Illuminating All Angles

While each of Principia’s five Academic Centers is unique—challenging and preparing students for success while adding to the College campus and culture in distinct ways—let’s be honest: if you’re going to throw a party, you’re gonna want some performers. 

Those performers were on display in full force at the Center for the Arts launch event. Musicians, dancers, actors, and visual artists gathered in the Robert Duvall Theatre at the McVay Center for the Performing Arts to mark a new chapter in Principia’s commitment to developing whole thinkers through performance and scholarship.

The Prism Concert was a multidimensional showcase of the depth and diversity of artistic expression at Principia College. From student photographic work to symphonic performances by the College Orchestra, a dance flash mob to a high-energy sword-fight scene from the upcoming student production of The Three Musketeers, every performance showcased the spirit that defines the new Center.

One of the evening’s most memorable moments featured Arnold Kalala (C’26), a senior engineering major, singing a moving rendition of “The Lord’s Prayer,” accompanied by the College Orchestra and Choir. The performance exemplified Principia’s liberal arts ideal: technical and scientific training are compatible with beauty and spiritual expression.

Reflecting on the evening, Dr. Rose Whitmore, chair of the Music Department, emphasized the connection between artistic study and Principia’s liberal arts mission. “Music, dance, theatre, and art give us languages to harmonize the layers of complexity that shape humanity today. Character-based education teaches students to notice and value nuance in meaning—and to work together in ways that honor and uplift their communities. The world needs this care.”

When all was said and done, the evening offered more than entertainment; it embodied the vision of Principia as a community where art and inquiry meet, producing graduates who approach challenges with creativity and understanding.

 

Carolina Queiroz Couto (C’20)

From Rio de Janeiro to Elsah, Illinois; from Baton Rouge to LA—Carolina Queiroz Couto (C’20) has come a long way. A working actor and an instructor at Seven Pillars Acting Studio in Los Angeles, Couto epitomizes the Principian whole-person ideal. 

While she was a student at Principia College, Couto augmented her theatre major with a philosophy minor and a range of classes that spanned literature to computer science. But acting was always her passion. An award-winning star turn at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival got her noticed—and got her hooked.

After stealing the spotlight at the 2021 URTA auditions—a mass audition for graduate school programs—she was offered a sought-after full ride scholarship to Louisiana State University. There, she saw the value of her liberal arts foundation. “When I got to grad school, I was working with professionals, some of whom had been in the field for years,” she recounts. “But it was interesting how much technique and theatre etiquette I already knew, thanks to my acting classes with Professor Chrissy Calkins Steele.”

Now that she splits her time between being a working actor—Couto has a feature-length film coming out, as well as multiple stage projects—and teaching, Couto has a broadened perspective on her undergraduate education. She sees the multidisciplinary alignment in the new Center for the Arts as a career accelerator. “I’m grateful for my Principia studies,” she says. “I’m able to relate to people more, I’m able to relate to characters, too. Mostly I just feel like I’m a better human; I can have a conversation with anybody, on any subject!” 

Artificial Intelligence, Actual Business

For Dr. Lucia De Paz (US’96, C’00), director of the Center for Business and Computer Science, the best—she might say the only—way to learn is by doing. So, when it came time to demonstrate the promise and opportunities her Center provided, she knew exactly what she had to do. “From the beginning, we knew we wanted it to be a workshop,” says De Paz, “and not just a lecture.” And since nothing combines the Center’s areas of emphasis better than AI, she knew just the person to call. 

“Dr. David Gutelius (C’93) has started six companies, including a very successful AI startup,” De Paz explains. “So he was the perfect person to share his business experience and offer a workshop on pragmatic AI.”

But beyond his professional expertise as a coder and founder, Dr. Gutelius had a unique perspective on the value of a liberal arts education. “The fact that David studied world perspectives at Principia and got a PhD in economic history, and is now a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur showcases the breadth and depth that a liberal arts education can give you.” That broad liberal arts foundation proved to be a powerful appeal: nearly a quarter of the student body attended the event, filling Holt Gallery.

“I was grateful that somebody with David’s knowledge and professional career could come speak to the students,” De Paz continues.

Gutelius even demonstrated the quick-pivot flexibility that is the hallmark of every successful entrepreneur, offering one-on-one consulting times for students enrolled in Center majors, and holding a second workshop for College faculty members unable
to attend. 

“If my career since graduating from Principia has taught me anything,” he says, “it’s that being endlessly curious and building a broad interdisciplinary skillset is the key to success in any field.”

As the College continues to emphasize the development of real-world, future-ready skills, the Center for Business and Computer Science is prepared to lead the way forward.

 

Dr. Crist Inman (C’85)

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better proof of the promise of the liberal arts than Dr. Crist Inman (C’85). An equally tall order: identifying an individual with a bigger impact in rethinking conservation funding over the past 30 years. 

Evolving from his Principia English degree to a Cornell PhD to a distinguished career developing environmentally conscious tourism and hospitality businesses, Inman has been developing sustainable tourism since its inception. “I have always valued the liberal arts education,” says Inman. He credits Dr. Charles Hosmer (C’53), former Principia College professor of history, with instilling the skills to produce the dissertation that launched Inman’s career—and consequently a $300 billion eco-tourism industry. “I devoured his course,” Inman says. “It gave me a love of qualitative archival research, which I used in my dissertation that turned out to be the turning point for the rest of my life.” 

His study of the century-long evolution of two nature tourism destinations led him to this conclusion: “Under the right circumstances, people will treat conservation as a business opportunity.”

Three decades ago, Inman coined the phrase “entrepreneurial conservation”, which caught the eye of Costa Rica’s newly elected president, José María Figueres. Before he knew it, he was leading a team for the Costa Rican government to create a model for sustainable tourism. “I thought I would spend a year or two in Costa Rica,” says the now-30-year expat, “but it became my life’s work: helping governments and the private sector build an economy where tourism funds conservation.”

Crist and his wife, Amie, formed La Paz Group, a full-service eco-tourism management firm developing properties in Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Together, they have protected thousands of acres of rain forest and reduced plastic waste by hundreds of tons. “Conservation is a wise investment,” he likes to say.

True to his broad skillset and endless curiosity, Inman pivoted again after 20 years to create Authentica, a socially conscious retail establishment specializing in authentic, locally sourced products. He also partnered with son, Seth, to create Organikos, which offers “taste of place” products to Authentica and via its website serving the USA.

The path from English major to conservation entrepreneur may seem unlikely, but thanks to his “liberal arts mindset,” Crist Inman found a world of possibility.

Global Engagement, Personal Enrichment

In just a few years since graduating from Principia College, Marie Sherman (C’20) and William Johnson (US’19, C’23) traveled far, earning international graduate degrees. Meanwhile, Weston Williams (C’16) dug deep—helming a radio show for opera devotees. Logan Landry-Jennings (C’18) is in non-profit development, fighting food insecurity, while Hunter Hummell (US’17, C’21) is an in-house counsel, battling corporate non-compliance. 

Gathered on the Wanamaker stage, the five Principia graduates illustrated the multidimensional meaning of engagement. “What brings all of these areas together is the idea of community engagement,” said Dr. Sally Steindorf (US’93, C’97), director of the Center for Civic and Global Engagement.

The Center hosted the panel of young alumni to showcase paths of interest and promise to students in the Center’s programs, which include economics, education, global studies, philosophy and political science. But they also represented ways in which Principia College graduates are daily engaging with their communities.

“In this Center, we seek first to understand and then to serve and heal our communities, as local and global citizens,” Steindorf proclaimed. That focus was on display through the journey of each alum on the stage, all of whom credited Principia’s multidisciplinary liberal arts education with introducing them to passions they didn’t know they had.

“I came to Principia to double major in business and art,” said Landry-Jennings, “but a course on race and ethnicity completely changed my life and how I saw the world. When I graduated I was inspired to go into non-profits and use my privilege to help others.”

“My path wasn’t linear—I didn’t know I would be working in education policy,” said Sherman, who is a policy analyst for the Ontario Ministry of Education. “But at Principia, I built this foundation of skills—my global studies major instilled the concept of being a global citizen. It has been so crucial for how I approach everything in my life.”

Williams was a philosophy major who, like everyone on stage, found the courage and the skillset to pursue his passion through unexpected avenues. “I was able to do a wide range of things at Principia,” he says. “I had a random experience taking a class I didn’t even read the syllabus for, and now it’s my career as the host of a Chicago radio show!”

As current students peppered the speakers with questions, topics ranged from navigating global careers to managing discouragement in graduate school, but the guiding theme of engagement continued. “The best way to succeed not just in your professional life, but as a person,” said Williams, “is to find the best part of you and bring it out and give it to others. Because that’s what’s best in humanity.”

 

Josie Ratcliffe (C’91)

If you spend over a quarter century traveling the world, you are likely to collect artifacts. Chief among them are stories. But if there is one story that sums up Josie Ratcliffe (C’91), it is one of global engagement.

Ratcliffe has spent more than 20 years in the Foreign Service, most recently as the Consul General at the US Consulate in Durban, South Africa. Previous postings include Iraq, Pakistan, China, and Rwanda. 

She traces her commitment to global engagement all the way back to her time as a student at Principia College, where Model Illinois Government and a study abroad program to China “led me to a career in diplomacy,” she says. Visiting China the year after the Tian-a-men Square protests and the same year the Berlin Wall fell “was remarkable timing—to be out in the world as it changed in real time.”  

Ratcliffe’s Foreign Service career has been burnished by her reputation for calmly managing large teams through crises, including leading embassies during political violence, pandemics, and natural disasters. She credits her commitment to preparation, confidence in her abilities, and a well-developed core as the heart of these achievements.

“Principia’s Academic Centers are really exciting and absolutely prepare students for careers like mine,” she says. “A liberal arts degree that grants someone professional fluidity, while nurturing what it means to be a happy human, is in my mind the gold standard. No matter our fields, we must all become better critical thinkers, better problem solvers; we must embrace scary things like feedback, risk, and failure. 

“The Center for Civic and Global Engagement formalizes Principia's commitment to building communication, collaboration, and leadership skills . . . The world has need of ethical thinkers, courageous leaders, and consensus-building problem solvers, who can operate at the highest levels of industry and government.” 

What’s Your Story?

“What’s your story,” asks the sign hanging in the Principia College Concourse. Three small words that evoke a big answer. Story, of course, is a building block of identity; the foundation of culture. And story is the cornerstone of the College’s Center for Narrative, Meaning, and Media. 

“The stories we tell ourselves and the stories others tell are how we make sense of the world,” says Center Director Dr. Heidi (Denniston) Snow (C’79). “All the departments in our Center are conscious of the storytelling around us, and we are interested in helping students understand those narratives and craft their own.”

Launching to the student body and prospective students on Halloween presented unique opportunities for the Center. To illustrate the power of narrative, the Center’s four departments—history, religion, creative writing, and digital media—each set up a table inside the Pub to engage students and passersby in their respective disciplines. From artifacts to photographs, participants were able to engage with the myth and tradition, as well as personal nostalgia and visual media of Halloween.

“It was an ongoing storytelling thing, with people building on each other’s work,” recalls Snow, and it engaged the full student body. “There were so many people there that the Pub was full,” she adds. “Even one of our visiting students threw herself in. It had a nice community feel to it.”

The Center for Narrative, Meaning, and Media’s confluence of media and the humanities comprise a wholly fresh approach to the liberal arts, one that is aligned with the College’s ongoing commitment to cultivating the skills students need for success in their careers and beyond. “Story is foundational to how we process and understand the world, events, others, and oneself,” explains Sara (McDaniel) Wienecke (C’09) assistant professor of English and chair of the Creative Writing Department. “It’s important for students to realize the power of narrative and recognize that it matters how a narrative is informed, who is telling it, and the choices behind how it is told, so that students are equipped to use this knowledge for the betterment of our world.”

In all the Center’s majors, Snow says, “they’re learning skills they need to be successful—how to talk to people different than themselves, how to balance their time.” She continues, “They know they’ve got a skill that’s going to be sellable, regardless of their major. That’s one of the great things about our Center. It’s a very powerful connection.”

 

Dr. Cliff Ubba Kodero (C’12)

For Dr. Cliff Ubba Kodero (C’12), the topic of international relations is not academic or abstract; it is intensely personal. Kodero has not only studied, taught, and written extensively about international political economy, but as a product of rural Kenya, he’s lived it.

The Morgan State University political science professor describes his area of study as a practical application of narrative meaning and media. “Narrative is important because the story you tell about yourself is how you would like to be seen and heard,” he says. “Meaning comes from self-actualization. It consists of the goals and missions you want to achieve in life.” And he describes media as the platform for connecting individuals, groups, or constituencies.

Kodero has put this theory into practice as the writer/producer and star of The Ubba Kodero Show on YouTube. Episodes alternate through lectures, viewer questions, and content recaps. In the introductory video, Kodero describes the show as an effort to democratize international affairs education and infuse it with discussions of popular culture and Black diaspora. In other words, it’s narrative, meaning, and media.

From a distance, it may seem surprising to hear Kodero credit Principia, a small liberal arts college in the American Midwest, with opening his eyes to his African identity, but he does just that. "I came from Kenya,” he says, “where a holistic look at a Black human being is often still viewed through a colonial lens—one of seeking permission to be heard and accepted.” Principia, by contrast, "helped me understand myself,” he says.

That is a central role of narrative, according to Kodero. With academic expertise in political economy, he is accustomed to extrapolating out from the individual to the societal. “Narrative is a crucial element of how we think about human society,” he says. “Therefore, it must be authentic and based in truth.” 

The Art of Science

In today’s era of quantum technological advancements, where science is both blamed with ruining the planet and tasked with saving it, scientists are accustomed to tackling any challenge.

So it was with characteristic aplomb that the faculty and students in the Center for Sustainability, Ecology, and Chemistry approached the launch of their Center this fall. Center Director Dr. Greg Bruland (C’97) huddled with faculty to map out the objectives: showcase the promise of each discipline; engage current students, prospective students, and the greater community . . . oh, and make it fun.

The result: as much art as science. “Each department came up with fun, hands-on activities,” Bruland recounts. “You could hear the buzz and energy all the way around campus!”

The event brought a festival-like energy to campus, with students and guests sampling dry-ice ice cream (courtesy of the Chemistry Department), up-cycling old Principia t-shirts into functional tote bags (the work and ingenuity of the Sustainability Department), and enjoying campus ecosystem tours led by Dr. Chrissy McAllister (C’93), professor of Biology and Natural Resources. Even the solar car RA XI made a rare appearance, offering a sneak peek into one of the College’s most notable and successful programs.

The Center’s launch event didn’t just span the campus; it served as a demonstration of campus-wide alignment. College food service provider Fresh Ideas made cupcakes, and the Admissions Department provided free water in aluminum bottles. “They knew better than to bring plastic bottles to a sustainability event,” smiles Bruland.

While the event was a success by any metric (“we doubled the number of expected participants,” says Bruland), the real win was in demonstrating the real-world appeal of the Center for Sustainability, Ecology, and Chemistry—even for the less-quantitatively inclined.  

 

Dr. Godfred Fianu (C’11)

Dr. Godfred Fianu (C’11) does many things well: he’s a chemistry PhD, he was a Christian Science nurse, he’s fluent in four languages. But what he doesn’t do is tarry or second guess. In fact, even his undergraduate studies at Principia College continue to guide his professional path some 15 years later.

Following graduation, Fianu spent a gap year putting his religious studies minor into service as a Christian Science nurse. Then, straight to graduate school to pursue a PhD in reaction kinetics and organic chemistry. “My path has been pretty linear,” Fianu understates. 

While Fianu traces his interest in reaction kinetics back to car battery experiments in Accra, Ghana and “making interesting compounds” in Principia chemistry labs, his own nature is anything but volatile, let alone combustible. 

To Fianu, chemical reactions and spiritual causation are not mutually exclusive. “I know God has a divine plan for me,” he says. “I stick to that mindset of—I did not create myself, God made me.” 

That’s not to say the plan was without its surprises. Fianu fully expected to move into a practical application of his chemistry PhD, but he stuck to his method of humbly following divine direction, or “walking through open doors” as he puts it. “If somebody had told me I’d be teaching, I’d say that’s crazy,” he laughs. “But I had the opportunity to be an adjunct professor for a bit, and that was the door that opened.” 

Today, Fianu is an assistant professor of chemistry at Moravian University, a place where his subject matter expertise and his spiritual, God-first outlook are valued. “You don’t know what God has planned until you get put in the situation,” he reflects. “And then you realize that it’s God leading you. He has the blueprint. I just try to submit to it and keep going.” That is a deeper study of cause and effect than you will find in any chemistry lab.  

> Watch a webinar discussing the College’s new Academic Centers