Campus News

Grinnellians demonstrated the power of collective impact during Scarlet & Give Back Day when more than 2,550 donors made gifts totaling over $1,250,000, helping ensure current and future students can enjoy the benefits of a Grinnell education. Our community took full advantage of an anonymous donor’s $500,000 match pledge as well as a $100,000 giving challenge by the Board of Trustees.

Funding from the John M. Campbell Trust totaling $250,000 will help the Grinnell Education Partnership expand from exclusively youth-based projects to economic empowerment interventions aimed at the whole family. Grinnell College and the Greater Poweshiek Community Foundation will help evaluate and facilitate initiatives while community organizations bring their respective resources, access, and knowledge to the programs.

The Norris Hall renovations completed last fall created more comfortable space for students, with the addition of new windows and newly designed kitchens and lounges. New ADA rooms and an elevator were added to make the building accessible for all. An unexpected bonus was the “Masters Award” recently bestowed by the Master Builders of Iowa for exceptional efforts in executing the project.

A Social Innovator in Residence Program initiative that will bring world-class innovators to campus to inspire students and promote civic engagement was announced in April. After a one-year hiatus to evaluate lessons from a decade of the Grinnell Prize, the College is transitioning from a singular prize to a broader experience that offers expanded opportunities for collaboration and learning. The program will allow students to engage with inspiring leaders who are making an enduring difference in the world. Applications are being accepted until Sept. 5, and the residency will begin in fall 2024.

Since 2018, the Grinnell College National Poll (GCNP) has partnered faculty and students with nationally renowned pollster J. Ann Selzer to probe the political attitudes of the American public. Today, the poll is a trusted source of information for journalists and the public, a platform for innovative teaching in the classroom, and a vital way for Grinnell College to join the national conversation about our nation’s future. Among other top-level findings from the latest (March 2023) GCNP:

• 68% oppose allowing businesses to refuse services to LGBTQIA+ customers.
• 60% oppose the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned the precedent set by Roe v. Wade.
• 57% say it is not appropriate for public school teachers to speak their minds about politics in the classroom.

Read more about the Grinnell College National Poll and latest poll results.

Liz Rodrigues, associate professor and humanities and digital scholarship librarian, will pursue a Mellon New Directions Fellowship, supported by a grant of $220,000 awarded by the Mellon Foundation. The Mellon New Directions program allows mid-career scholars in the humanities to undertake formal training in fields outside their own. Rodrigues’s project, “Computing for Context, Computing as Context,” will examine African American and multiethnic autobiographies of the early 20th century.

Above: President Anne Harris and Loyal Terry ’23 shared a moment of celebration as she presented him with the 2023 President’s Medal, awarded to an individual who best embodies the mission and values of a Grinnell education.

The College’s newest alums celebrated in style during the traditional, outdoor Commencement ceremony held May 22. Three hundred and ninety-nine students representing 41 states and 19 countries were awarded degrees in 27 different majors and 15 concentrations.

Ham Serunjogi ’16 delivered the keynote address, encouraging graduates to “do things that matter because they matter, not because success is guaranteed. The world desperately needs Grinnellians to do things that matter, to tackle the hardest problems, not because success is guaranteed but because they are important.”

Serunjogi, the co-founder and CEO of Chipper Cash, who also serves on the College’s Board of Trustees, received his honorary degree citation from President Anne Harris.

Honorary degrees were awarded to four individuals who have made significant contributions to their fields of expertise. Pictured left to right: Irma McClaurin ’73, Ham Serunjogi ’16, Peggy Barlett ’69, and William Love.

Read more about Commencement activities and awards and view video from the ceremony.

I write to you during the season of change and renewal, between the celebration of the Class of 2023’s accomplishments at Commencement, and the anticipation of the joy sparked by Grinnellians of all generations arriving on campus for their milestone reunions. These experiences are vibrant reminders of how a Grinnell College education changes the trajectory of students’ lives across and through generations.

On campus, we are in the midst of finalizing a new strategic plan to guide the College’s focus and leverage its historical values and distinctive strengths to ensure that Grinnell remains a vibrant leader in higher education. This is truly a plan shaped by the voices of faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni leadership, and community leaders, and I look forward to sharing more about this effort this fall and in a future issue of the magazine.

In this issue, Grinnell Magazine’s authors explore aspects of the College’s identity and purpose and how they impact students on campus and well beyond. As a global institution in a rural setting with a national voice, Grinnellians appreciate the benefits of global citizenship while also finding ways to forge connections, no matter where they are in the world.

Grinnell’s student-run “Going Forth” podcast creates connections between current students and alumni through the medium of informative and entertaining audio content. Read more about the podcast’s evolution and the experience of the student hosts and alumni guests. You’ll be inspired to listen.

As we anticipate how Grinnell can evolve through the strategic plan and the continued relevance of the College’s core values, I invite you to explore current course offerings through “The 60-Second Syllabus” and continue to learn from world-class faculty members who create dozens of creative and timely course offerings each semester. You can learn more about what students have been learning lately and why it matters.

As we prepare to welcome the Class of 2027 this fall, we are filled with anticipation of the tremendous talent and promise that they will bring to the College community. A Grinnell College education continues to be in high demand, and we will welcome a fantastic class from across the United States and around the globe. Before we know it, they will be making connections and become part of the vibrant network of Grinnellians who flag each other down in airports when they see someone in Grinnell gear or generously share their professional paths and expertise with students and fellow alumni.

Thank you for being part of Grinnell’s past, present, and future!

The Scarlet & Black captures student perspective on current events that may one day become Grinnell College history, while The Grinnell Magazine adds another layer of reporting and recording. But there’s only one publication — the Grinnell Memory Book — whose sole purpose is to compile the memories of alums in words and pictures, to capture the experience of an entire 50th Reunion class. Although they’re not actually a secret, most Grinnellians don’t hear about memory books until they get close to celebrating that special reunion.

Award-winning journalist and author David Hechler ’72 helped edit the most recent memory book. Motivated by that experience, he has written an article explaining what these books are, how they get created, and the ways they’ve evolved during the nine years they have been produced.

Read Hechler’s story.

What do hands and the heart have in common? Myriad aspects, to be sure, but there is a specific and rather unique Grinnell connection in the Indianapolis medical community. Hand surgeon Jeff Greenberg ’80 and cardiologist Ed Fry ’79 began a parallel journey during their Grinnell years that continues to this day.

Fry and Greenberg are presidents of their respective associations: the American College of Cardiology and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand.

The doctors first met 44 years ago in James Hall. Greenberg and Fry lived on the same floor when Greenberg was in his first year at Grinnell.

Unbeknownst to one another, Fry and Greenberg later moved to Indianapolis at the same time. A chance encounter brought them together again. “While on our first grocery run, my wife and I literally bumped carts with the Greenbergs, who had also just arrived,” says Fry. Since then, the lives of these two have remained in orbit.

Both doctors have done groundbreaking research over the years, and recently Greenberg cowrote a paper with one of Fry’s partners on a new approach for diagnosing a rare heart condition called amyloidosis.

“It is not hyperbole to say that neither one of us would have had the opportunities we’ve had if it weren’t for Grinnell,” Fry says.