Alumni

Grinnell, Iowa - The 2014 Grinnell Prize — a $100,000 award honoring young innovators advancing positive social change — was presented by Grinnell College on Tuesday, Oct. 7, to founders of two organizations making the world a healthier, cleaner place.

The prizewinners, all under age 40, were selected from among hundreds of nominees from across the globe.

During the awards ceremony late Tuesday afternoon, Grinnell President Raynard S. Kington presented the first 2014 Grinnell Prize to Adam Kircher, 29, and Kiah Williams, 28, co-founders and directors of SIRUM (Supporting Initiatives to Redistribute Unused Medicine).

Based in San Francisco, SIRUM bridges the gap between America’s health facilities that discard more than $700 million in unused medicines every year and millions of Americans who go without medications they urgently need but can’t afford. SIRUM’s online platform makes it easy for health facilities to donate their unused medicines to safety-net clinics. This system supplies medicine to as many as 20,000 Americans a year, reducing the volume of wasted medications that require disposal.

In awarding the 2014 Grinnell Prize to Kircher and Williams, President Kington recognized them for their “innovative efforts to improve Americans’ health, mitigate the serious consequences of poverty, and simultaneously reduce environmental harm.”

"We believe that health care a basic human right," Williams said, "and we are thrilled to receive this award to help us to continue to grow our programs, and continue to reduce the number of people in this country who skip their prescription drugs due to cost.”

From medication to sanitation

President Kington then presented the second 2014 Grinnell Prize to Lindsay Stradley, 33, and her husband, Ani Vallabhaneni, 33, co-founders of Sanergy, which designs, builds and franchises low-cost, high-quality Fresh Life porta-toilets for use in the developing world.

Sanergy uses an innovative business model in which franchisees purchase and independently operate Fresh Life facilities. Sanergy provides operators with training, access to financing and daily collection of waste, which is converted into organic fertilizer and renewable energy. Since 2011 Sanergy has hired 163 local employees, launched 461 franchises and provided more than 18,000 residents of Nairobi, Kenya, with access to affordable, hygienic sanitation.

In awarding the 2014 Grinnell Prize to Stradley and Vallabhaneni, President Kington praised them for  “improving public health and contributing to financial independence and sustainable agricultural and energy practices across East Africa.”

"On behalf of the more than 150 teammates that we have back in Nairobi, Lindsay and I are deeply honored and humbled to accept this award from Grinnell," Vallabhaneni said, noting that the Grinnell Prize will help Sanergy expand its operations.

"Social change, whether it's in San Francisco where Adam and Kiah work, or in Nairobi, where we work, can often seem like a very lonely endeavor," he added. "Over the past couple of days, getting to know the entire Grinnell community that is so committed to social justice is quite refreshing and inspiring."

Prize honors innovators under age 40

The largest prize for social justice awarded by a U.S. college, the Grinnell Prize is presented annually to leaders under 40 who have devised innovative ways to advance positive social change. Half of each $100,000 award goes to the individual honorees and half goes to their organization.

“When I created the program in 2010, my goal was to honor people who are modeling the Grinnellian ideal of learning in the service of social commitment,” President Kington said. “As the program has matured and thrived, I’ve come to see that it’s also a powerful way to connect our students and community with exceptional young innovators. The winners teach classes and workshops, mentor students and — increasingly — host internships that benefit both organizations and our causes.”

About Grinnell College

Since its founding in 1846, Grinnell has become one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges, enrolling 1,600 students from all 50 states and from as many international countries. Grinnell's rigorous academic program emphasizes excellence in education for students in the liberal arts; the college offers the B.A. degree in a range of departments across the humanities, arts and sciences. Grinnell has a strong tradition of social responsibility and action, and self-governance and personal responsibility are key components of campus life. More information about Grinnell College is available at www.grinnell.edu.

Cutline for attached photo: From left: Grinnell Prize winners Ani Vallabhaneni and Lindsay Stradley of Sanergy stand with Grinnell College President Raynard S. Kington and Grinnell Prize winners Kiah Williams and Adam Kircher of SIRUM.

Grinnell, Iowa - Embargoed until Oct. 3, 2014

A new digital archive of the Scarlet & Black student newspaper at Grinnell College will be accessible to the public for the first time on Friday, Oct. 3, the Grinnell College Libraries announced today.

This online archive provides free access to the College's archive of the Scarlet & Black from the first issue in 1894 to the last issue of May 2010. Alumni, students, faculty, staff, friends and researchers can explore the archive at http://usiagrc.arcasearch.com/Research.aspx.

The archive is accessible to all Web users both on and off Grinnell’s campus. It can be searched by anyone with a Web connection, but individual articles are not searchable or findable directly through Google or other search engines.

In addition to being a valuable source for research, this archive provides a fun way to peruse the College’s history. One hundred years ago today (Oct. 3), for example, social life at Grinnell became a little more egalitarian when the ladies’ societies unanimously voted to abolish “rushing” and open all of their meetings to all of the women on campus. Additionally, students celebrated the start of the new football season with a massive pep rally featuring the cheer, “We’ll give a yell for old Grinnell!”

Whether learning about Grinnell notables — such as George Herron, Robert Noyce ’49 or Hallie Flanagan Davis, class of 1911 — or just checking out college days gone by, researchers can use the text search feature to find articles on specific topics. The browse feature makes it easy to review articles published in specific decades, years, months or days.

Since its first publication on Sept. 12, 1894, the Scarlet & Black has served as a vital source of up-to-date news on campus, an important record of Grinnell College and a rich historical resource.

“The Grinnell College Libraries are pleased to provide this powerful new way to explore the College’s history using the Scarlet & Black online archive,” said Samuel R. and Marie-Louise Rosenthal Librarian of the College Richard Fyffe.

About Grinnell College
Since its founding in 1846, Grinnell has become one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges, enrolling 1,600 students from all 50 states and from as many international countries. Grinnell’s rigorous academic program emphasizes excellence in education for students in the liberal arts; the college offers the B.A. degree in a range of departments across the humanities, arts and sciences. Grinnell has a strong tradition of social responsibility and action, and self-governance and personal responsibility are key components of campus life. More information about Grinnell College is available at www.grinnell.edu.

Grinnell, Iowa - The “War and Peace Project,” a collaborative work created on all 747 pages of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” is on display in Burling Gallery on the Grinnell College campus.

Laura “Lola” Baltzell began the project in 2008 by making a collage from each page of a 1970s Soviet edition of the novel she’d picked up in Leningrad. She expanded the project to include a small group of friends, dubbed “Team Tolstoy.”

The team consisted of six Grinnell College graduates, and nine artists total. In addition to Baltzell, Lucy Arrington, Christiane Carney Johnson, Otto Mayr, Lucy Zahner Montgomery, Emma Rhodes, Elizabeth Jorganson Sherman, both Lynn Waskelis and Adrienne Wetmore contributed to this work. Occasionally, they invited guest artists to contribute a collage.

There were three rules for the project:

1. Each collage should contain at least one word of the original text;
2. The artist may not touch up or redo any collage; and
3. The artist is free to decide if he or she would like to respond to the story line or not.

Each 5 x 7 inch collage incorporates one page from the Russian text, combined with bits of maps, dried flowers, ink, wax, graphite, thread, letters, and other printed material. Waskelis, calls it a “mash-up of personal bits and random detritus washed up from the universe of print.”

Overall, the project is a creative dialogue between Tolstoy and a collaborative team of artists who “… struggle to make connections, find meanings, and ultimately to create something of value,” according to Arrington.

In addition to the exhibition, a roundtable, workshop and gallery talk are planned for October and November. All of the events are free and open to the public in Burling Gallery at Burling Library, 1111 Sixth Ave., Grinnell.

On Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 4:15 p.m., Kelly Herold, associate professor of Russian at Grinnell College, and Edward Cohn, assistant professor of history at Grinnell, and a visiting scholar of Russian art history, will lead a roundtable discussion on images of war in Tolstoy's “War and Peace,” Russia's role in World War I in an age of revolution, and representations of war in Russian art of the early 20th century. The “War and Peace Project” will provide a backdrop and starting point for the discussion.

On Nov. 12 at 4:15 p.m., Lola Baltzell and Christiane Carney Johnson will discuss the collaborative process involved in the “War and Peace Project.” They will then lead a collage workship from 8-9:30 p.m.

The “War and Peace Project” was brought to Grinnell’s campus by the Faulconer Gallery, in collaboration with the Grinnell College Russian Department, the Eastern European studies department and the Center for the Humanities.

It is open through Dec. 7. It can be viewed daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. in Burling Library, and admission is free. In addition to being on view at Grinnell College’s Burling Gallery, the work will be featured in the events connected with the Humanities Center’s A Century of War.

Burling Gallery is located on the lower level of Burling Library at 1111 Sixth Ave., Grinnell. For more information about the exhibition and related programs, call 641-269-4660 or visit www.grinnell.edu/faulconergallery. Information on parking and accessibility is available on the college website. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations at 641-269-3235 or calendar@grinnell.edu.

Cutline for attached photos: Team Tolstoy, “War and Peace Project,” detail, collage on paper.

Photos: Collage 1, Collage 2