Sue Ratcliff Drake ’58, a native Minnesotan, graduated from a high school class of nearly 450 students. She didn’t know half her classmates, so she wanted something smaller. She applied to Grinnell because it was more intimate than the University of Minnesota. 

April 6 was a red-letter day for giving to Grinnell. The third annual Scarlet & Give Back Day was also a red hair day for Andy Hamilton ’85, director of athletics and recreation. 

Yesenia Ayala ’18 of Los Angeles has been awarded the Truman Scholarship, a $30,000 nationally competitive graduate study scholarship sponsored by the Harry S. Truman Foundation. She is one of 62 students selected nationally, based on academic success and leadership accomplishments as well as their likelihood of becoming public service leaders.

Timothy Dobe, associate professor and chair of religious studies, has received the Frederick Burkhardt Residential Fellowship for Recently Tenured Scholars for his research on Mahatma Gandhi’s engagement with the Muslim community.

The new Humanities and Social Studies Complex (HSSC) moved closer to reality this spring with the arrival of heavy construction equipment and a tower crane on the northwest corner of the academic quad.

During March and April, up to 2,000 cubic yards of soil were excavated away daily to prepare for footings and foundations that will support 931 tons of structural steel, 28,000 square feet of exterior glass, and 14,000 square feet of copper and metal panels. 

KT: So how did you hear about Grinnell in the first place? Why did you end up coming here?

"Engage, care, be passionate. Because each other is all we have. This is all we got, this is all we have. And it may not be heaven, but it can be Iowa. Congratulations, class of 2017. Welcome to the real world. We need you out here." 

- KUMAIL NANJIANI '01

Gina Clayton is the recipient of the 2017 Grinnell College Innovator for Social Justice Prize. The attorney and activist founded and directs Essie Justice Group, a nonprofit, California-based organization that developed a nine-week Healing to Advocacy program.

“Before America was my home, Iowa was my home, and before Iowa was my home, Grinnell was my home.”

– Kumail Nanjiani ’01, Doctor of Humane Letters

“How lucky you are to be emerging from this place where the past four years have provided you with tools of intentionality, intellect, and empowerment.”

– Daniel Werner ’91,  Doctor of Laws

Austin Simmons ’90 routinely describes Grinnell as a winning lottery ticket. “It was pure luck that I ended up there,” he says. “Grinnell was everything I needed.”

It’s pitch-dark in Columbus, Ohio, when the alarm breaks the wintery stillness at 5 a.m. Instead of hitting “snooze” and burrowing further under the duvet, Sarah Burnell ’14 laces up her running shoes and heads outdoors. 

It’s all “part of the allure” of training for the Boston Marathon, she says. But it’s also much more than that.  

The Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) is blazing new ground in its focus on preparing Grinnellians to lead lives of meaning and purpose. After extensive strategic planning, the CLS has developed a new model that rebukes traditional approaches to preparing for life after college. The CLS model is novel in many ways; holistic in scope, it is integral to each student’s experience and embraces the tenets of experiential learning. 

As a 12-year-old polio victim in the early 1950s, I faced isolation, closed school doors, and bullying, including a common use of the circular motions recently used by the now president of the United States against a partially disabled writer. 

Topics relevant to the larger student and alumni community were the focus of discussion sessions between the Alumni Council and College administrators during the council’s March meeting on campus.

A small collection of images captured by Justin Hayworth, College photographer and videographer during the recent Global Learning Program trip to China.