After just three weeks, Albion College's Web Series has established itself as a venue for alumni who want to get together—at least virtually. It has so far featured a discussion of April Fools' Day and Albion pranksters, a virtual yoga workout, and a tour of two downtown eateries. And all of the events have been led by alumni.
It's fascinating music trivia: one of Beethoven's greatest piano works, the Diabelli Variations, is Volume II, but Beethoven did not write, or even contribute to, Volume I. Some 200 years later, Albion College music professor Lia Jensen-Abbott—whose doctoral work focused on Beethoven's Variations—is now putting a new spin on Volume I, with an idea the creative genius of Beethoven could never have imagined.
Lauren Bergeron, '21, was one of just 60 students nationwide chosen to participate in the Council on Undergraduate Research's "Posters on the Hill," an event designed to showcase current student research for federal lawmakers and other government officials. Bergeron was further invited to the inaugural Johns Hopkins University Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium, a mega-event involving more than 500 students. While the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of both April events, she can take solace knowing that Albion is represented among the country's top student research programs.
"I chose to go to South Africa in part because I didn’t want to go somewhere 'easy'—another campus inside a different version of a college bubble or a European country where I wouldn’t be challenged to examine my race, privilege, and implicit biases," says Isabel Allaway, '20, of her off-campus semester as this year's Kim Tunnicliff Fellow.
Albion Everywhere, a celebration of Albion College's 185th anniversary and originally slated to feature alumni hosts at sites around the country, will now be an online Facebook event on Thursday, March 19 at 8 p.m. ET.
Concern generated by the spread of the coronavirus and COVID-19 led to Albion College's decision late last week to postpone the annual Alumni Awards Ceremony, originally scheduled for April 17, will be postponed to April 16, 2021.
