Inauguration of President Kington News Releases

The Power of Role Models: President Raynard S. Kington

worster — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:25:27 +0000

Basu: Iowa teen moves forward after family dumps him

Des Moines Register

Des Moines, IA

June 9, 2011

The curiosity is understandable. Everyone wondered how the East Coast transplant, a medical doctor, and his spouse and two young sons would fare in largely white Iowa, which has seen some pitched battles over same-sex marriage. To Kington, who didn't come here to be a mouthpiece for any group, the attention was a bit uncomfortable. "A research professor assigned me as a topic on various sociological theories," he said. "That was really just bizarre."

Raynard S. Kington

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Preparing students to change the world

deppec — Mon, 30 May 2011 17:44:58 +0000

Preparing students to change the world

Des Moines Register

Des Moines, Ia., United States

May 29, 2011

Grinnell is a microcosm of academic excellence. But it lives within the larger world of higher education. And the higher education social contract between the U.S. government and its citizens is being entirely renegotiated, with long-term, unknown, and potentially devastating impacts on the ability of many to complete their college degrees - and for those who do graduate, on their ability to obtain a job, rent an apartment, purchase a house, or engage in any activity that might be affected by having a large college loan debt burden.

More strikingly, our nation's ability to address the most complex, challenging problems of tomorrow is severely compromised by the threat of at least several years of flat or reduced budgets for research and training.

The consequences of this recession are not the only factors whipping the world of higher education. There are:

-- Demands to demonstrate clearer learning outcomes.

-- Greater calls to provide our graduates with "business-ready" skills.

-- Challenges from continued blurring of boundaries between academic disciplines - particularly for institutions that cling to outdated ideas about clearly defined, narrow bodies of knowledge.

-- Changing demographics of younger populations, with growing percentages of minorities, especially of Hispanic ethnicity, who will come mostly from K-12 public systems that continue to fail in their efforts to provide a solid education to these students.

-- Pervasive access to enormous amounts of information - in ways unthinkable to our parents - that may transform how we teach and learn.

-- Technological innovations that have the potential to improve many dimensions of quality for higher education - but show no signs of reducing costs.

-- The march of globalization, with larger countries like China and India building their own systems of higher education, largely imitating ours.

In sum, continuous, often-volatile change is occurring at every level of education. And that, I believe, is a classic definition of chaos.

Raynard S. Kington, president

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Winners announced for 2011 Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize

deppec — Thu, 05 May 2011 20:47:09 +0000

$300,000 awarded to individuals under 40 working to foster positive social change

Grinnell, IA

5/5/11

Grinnell College today named the winners of the first Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize: Boris Bulayev, president, and Eric Glustrom, executive director, Educate! (shared award); James Kofi Annan, executive director, Challenging Heights; and Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, co-founder and co-executive director, Encounter.

The Grinnell Prize, which received more than 1,000 nominations from 66 countries, honors individuals under the age of 40 who have demonstrated leadership in their fields and who show creativity, commitment and extraordinary accomplishment in effecting positive social change. Each winning entry receives $100,000, half to the individual(s) and half to an organization the winner(s) designates for a total of $300,000 awarded this year in prize monies. The inauguration of Grinnell College's 13th president Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D. marks a transition point for the college. The prize commemorates the occasion and celebrates Grinnell’s historical and future commitment to positive social change.

“The winners of the Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize are outstanding examples of people who saw a huge social need and then worked creatively to meet that need and make the world a better place,” Kington said. “Since its founding, Grinnell has encouraged students to use their knowledge and their abilities to serve the common good. Boris, Eric, James and Melissa exemplify this core Grinnellian value, and their stories and achievements will inspire students at Grinnell and around the world.”

The pool of nominees for the Grinnell Prize spanned a diverse array of social issues, including hunger relief, disaster relief and accountability, childhood education, economic development and the environment, literacy, community-produced news, youth arts, fair housing, violence prevention, immigration, GLBTQ, restorative justice, public access to healthcare delivery, children’s mental health, urban agriculture and global peace, among many others.

Details of Grinnell College Prize winners are as follows:

Boris Bulayev, age 26, president, and Eric Glustrom, age 26, executive director, Educate!

Glustrom started Educate! at the age of 17 after filming a refugee settlement in Uganda for a documentary. Bulayev became involved while both were attending Amherst College. Today, both have built Educate! to empower 1,400 youth across Uganda, where over half of the population is under the age of 15. Their organization provides social entrepreneurship training, long-term mentorship and access to capital to help youth create and lead solutions to poverty, disease, violence, environmental degradation and the highest youth unemployment rate in the world.

The government of Uganda recently asked Educate! to incorporate its social entrepreneurship course into the national education system. It will reach 45,000 youth annually and be the world’s first national social entrepreneurship curriculum.

James Kofi Annan, age 37, executive director, Challenging Heights

A survivor of child trafficking, Annan established Challenging Heights to provide education and rehabilitation for children who have returned from slavery and horrific forms of child labor.

From the age of six to 13, he worked as a child fisherman in more than 20 villages before he finally escaped and returned to his home. At the time he could neither read nor write, but he befriended kindergartners so that he could use their schoolbooks and teach himself to read. He worked to feed himself and pay for school. Annan later rose to become a university graduate and manager at Barclays Bank of Ghana. In April 2007, he resigned from the bank to devote his full-time efforts to promote the mission of Challenging Heights – his multi-faceted approach includes addressing the root cause of child trafficking by providing education, health and advocacy programs for formerly enslaved and vulnerable children and their families.

Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, age 35, co-founder and co-executive director, Encounter

Weintraub co-founded an organization training Jewish leadership to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by providing Jewish leaders with firsthand exposure to Palestinian narratives and realities on the ground. Encounter’s flagship program has brought more than 1,000 influential Jewish leaders on trips to Palestinian cities, representing the only significant non-military Jewish presence in Palestinian areas of the West Bank in the last decade. Encounter’s target audience—rising and prominent leaders, opinion-shapers and decision-makers—have wide-ranging constituencies, and therefore access to hundreds of thousands of hearts and minds. Melissa’s bold, transformative approach stresses civil discourse across political divides within the Jewish community, attracting "unusual suspects," supporting influential leaders on the right and left to gain a more nuanced understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and accordingly, to reshape their funding priorities, advocacy efforts, and policy decision-making.

On October 26 and 27, 2011, the winners will visit the campus to participate in the Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize Symposium and awards ceremony. Through public lectures and interactions with students, they will share their experiences and perspectives in shaping innovative programs that effect positive social change. In addition, Morris Dees, the founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and noted civil rights lawyer, will be the keynote speaker at the symposium.

Grinnell College is a nationally recognized, private, four-year, liberal arts college located in Grinnell, Iowa. Founded in 1846, Grinnell enrolls 1,600 students from all 50 states and from as many international countries in more than 26 major fields, interdisciplinary concentrations and pre-professional programs.

Day of Community Service to mark May 7 inauguration of President Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D.

deppec — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:52:26 +0000

Grinnell, IA

4/19/11

Grinnell College President Raynard S. Kington, M.D., Ph.D., will be inaugurated as Grinnell’s 13th president, Sat., May 7, during a day that includes community service activities for students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the national liberal arts college.

Kington, who began his Grinnell tenure in August, 2010, brings a fresh perspective to the academic world as the former deputy director and acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to NIH, he directed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the largest studies of the health of the U.S. population. He also served as assistant professor of medicine at UCLA and as a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation. Kington attended the University of Michigan where he received his B.S. with distinction and his M.D., and later completed his M.B.A. with distinction and Ph.D. at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science in 2006.

In the spirit of Grinnell’s core value of social responsibility, Kington’s inauguration will also mark the college’s first annual Day of Service. Grinnell’s 20,000 alumni will be invited to participate in service activities in their home communities around the globe. In the city of Grinnell, alumni, faculty, staff, students, and local community members will work from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on service projects to benefit local organizations such as local schools, Imagine Grinnell, Second Mile, Drake Community Library, Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Mid-Iowa Community Action, and the Poweshiek Animal League Shelter.

Kington’s inaugural address, “Preparing Students to Change the World,” will be the focal point of the inauguration ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. on the college’s Central Campus. Delegates from higher education institutions are expected to attend the outdoor ceremony. David White, chair of the college’s board of trustees and a 1990 graduate, will conduct the investiture, and Kington will receive greetings and remarks from members of several Grinnell constituencies.

The inauguration ceremony will be livestreamed at www.grinnell.edu/inauguration. Rain location for the 3 p.m. ceremony is Herrick Chapel, 1128 Park St., on the Grinnell campus. Grinnell welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. If accommodations are needed, please call 641-269-3235 as soon as possible to make a request.

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Presidential Inauguration Ceremony

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In the spirit of the college’s core value of social responsibility, Kington’s inauguration will mark Grinnell’s first annual Day of Service. Grinnell’s 20,000 alumni will be invited to participate in service activities in their home communities around the globe.

In the city of Grinnell, community members, alumni, faculty, staff, and students will work together from 8 to 11:30 a.m. on service projects with organizations including Imagine Grinnell, Second Mile, Drake Community Library, Grinnell Regional Medical Center, Chamber of Commerce, Grinnell Arts Academy, Mid-Iowa Community Action, and the Poweshiek Animal League Shelter, in addition to local schools, 4-H, Girl Scout, and community-supported agriculture projects.

Individuals planning to participate in the inaugural Day of Service should register on the RSVP form at www.grinnell.edu/inauguration or by calling 641-269-4981 so that teams of appropriate size and activity level may be assigned to the volunteer sites. All registrants should attend a kickoff event at 8 a.m. on May 7 at the Joe Rosenfield ’25 Center, 1115 8th Ave., where volunteer assignments will be distributed.

Local residents are also invited to attend Kington’s inauguration ceremony beginning at 3 p.m. on Central Campus. Delegates from higher education institutions are expected to attend the outdoor ceremony, where Kington will address “Preparing Students to Change the World.” David White, chair of the college’s board of trustees and a 1990 graduate, will conduct the investiture, and Kington will receive greetings and remarks from members of several Grinnell constituencies.

Other public activities include a showcase of student achievement from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at various campus locations, and an inaugural lunch in the Marketplace Dining Hall of the Rosenfield Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Kington, who began his Grinnell tenure last August, brings a fresh perspective to the academic world as the former deputy director and acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to NIH, he directed the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the largest studies of the health of the U.S. population. He also served as assistant professor of medicine at UCLA and as a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation.

An inauguration information table will be available in the Rosenfield Center on May 7. Rain location for the 3 p.m. inauguration ceremony is Herrick Chapel, 1128 Park St., where there will be limited seating. The ceremony will also be livestreamed at www.grinnell.edu/inauguration. Grinnell welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. If accommodations are needed, please call 641-269-3235 as soon as possible to make a request.

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Message from Board Chair David White '90

doug — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:39:00 +0000