Arts and Sciences Magazine

Our students also participate in global, experience-driven learning beyond the classroom, for example, traveling abroad with registered student organizations like our award-winning Geology Club, who organized a field trip to Chile last year. Both undergraduate and graduate students in the college also benefit tremendously from their participation in global research and creative activities with our worldclass faculty scholars. In this issue we feature Bilinda Straight, an anthropologist who has spent decades working with the Samburu people of northern Kenya. Together with colleagues Duy Ngo, associate professor of Statistics, and lead author Xi Qiao, a WMU graduate student in Statistics, Straight recently published a paper based on her work in Kenya in Nature Communications. It has been receiving national attention for its innovative insights into the impact of drought exposure on the epigenetics of children. 

Our college is also enriched by the presence each year of more than 300 international students hailing from dozens of countries, who enroll in undergraduate and graduate programs across the college. They bring a unique and valuable perspective to our classrooms and forge long-lasting bonds with students, staff and faculty at WMU and in the greater Kalamazoo community.