E-News - March 2025

Day of Giving - mark your calendars & get involved!

Coe's 11th annual Day of Giving is set for April 3, 2025. This year, we’re not only celebrating this incredible tradition but also recognizing the fifth anniversary of the derecho that impacted our community. As we reflect on the resilience and generosity that have shaped Coe, we look forward to another powerful Day of Giving that is truly Rooted in Gratitude, Growing in Generosity.

Early Bird giving opens on Thursday, March 20 with our Early Bird: Planting the Seeds Challenge. Get a head start on making an impact and help us build momentum toward our biggest giving day yet! Visit Coe's 2025 Day of Giving page for more details.

If you’re passionate about making a difference and want to help spread the word, we invite you to become a Day of Giving Digital Ambassador. Simply complete the Digital Ambassador Interest Form to join our efforts!

Stay tuned for more updates as we look forward to April 3!

---

Kohawk winter sports bring the heat this postseason!
 

As the winter sports season winds down, Kohawk athletes are locking in to reach the pinnacle of performance as the postseason arrives. Fly Fast. Fly Fierce. Talons Out! 

Wrestling – Coe's team tied for sixth in the 2025 DIII National Championships! Bryce Parke '25 finished 2nd at 133, Brayden Parke '28 placed fifth at 125 , LJ Richardson '25 finished sixth at 174 and Jared Voss '25 placed seventh at 184.
Men’s Bowling – Making history! The men’s bowling team competed in the USBC postseason for the first time ever, rolling to a 9th-place finish with a total score of 12,418. This is a huge milestone for the program!
Women’s Bowling – Competing on a national stage, the women’s team fought hard at the USBC Intercollegiate Team Sectional Championships, earning a 13th-place finish in the Fort Worth Regional.
Swimming & Diving – Excellence in and out of the pool! The men’s and women’s teams were honored as CSCAA Fall Scholar All-America Teams, continuing their legacy of academic dominance for the third straight semester.
Men’s & Women’s Basketball – The Kohawks brought the energy all season long! The men’s team wrapped up with a 14-12 record, while the women’s team dominated at 20-7, making waves on the court.
Archery – The Coe College archery team finished off its season with two major events over the last month, competing at the Indoor National Championships in Chicago before concluding its campaign at The Vegas Shoot last weekend. The team finished 12th out of 26 teams at the National Shoot in the Collegiate Female Compound Team division.
Track & Field – The women’s team closed out the indoor season with top-eight finishes in both the 4x400 and 4x800 relays at the American Rivers Conference Championships. The men’s team delivered as well, securing a 6th-place finish in the 4x400 relay, 8th in the Distance Medley relay and an incredible 3rd-place finish in the weight throw!
Even bigger? Another new Kohawk All-American! Coe’s standout thrower, Chris Baker ‘25, earned a second team All-American honor in the weight throw competition at the national indoor meet! He also made history as the first Kohawk to compete at Indoor Nationals since 2015! 

The postseason is here, and the Kohawks are ready to soar. Stay tuned for more action as our athletes chase greatness!

---

Alumni Engagement opportunities in April

There are many opportunities in April for Kohawks to get involved on campus and beyond. We look forward to seeing you soon! Contact o-alumni@coe.edu ​​​​​​with questions.

April Events

 

4/3/25 Day of Giving City Celebrations - Join fellow alumni and friends for a special Day of Giving celebration in Cedar Rapids, Kansas City, Denver or Washington D.C. for food, drinks, fun and meaningful connections while reminiscing about your time at Coe and meeting fellow Kohawks in your area. Whether you're a longtime supporter or new to Coe’s giving traditions, this is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all that we love about Coe and our students. Join us on Thursday, April 3rd as we come together to honor the impact of generosity at Coe College!

 

4/5/25 SAA Easter Egg Hunt - Coe’s Student Alumni Association is hosting a family-friendly Easter egg hunt on Saturday, April 5, 2025 from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM in front of Stewart Memorial Library. All are welcome! Rain location: lower level of Stewart Memorial Library. Contact saa@coe.edu with questions.

 

4/8/25 Get COEnnected - Join this alumni-student networking social on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 from 4:30-6:00 at the Clark Alumni House. Learn more and register here!

 

4/11/25 All-Alumni Awards Nominations - All-Alumni Awards applications are open through Friday, April 11, 2025. Get your nominations in now to recognize an outstanding Kohawk!

 

4/26/25 Spring Choral Showcase - Coe Concert Choir, Coe Sho Cho (Coe's new iteration of show choir Collage) and A-Coe-Pella (student-led ensemble) will come together for the first annual Spring Choral Showcase on Saturday, April 26, 2025 in Sinclair Auditorium. Learn more and make plans to attend!

---

2025 Contemporary Issues Forum

Dr. Daniel Kraft spoke at Coe College as the featured guest of the 21st annual Contemporary Issues Forum. Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard-trained doctor with over 25 years of experience in clinical practice, biomedical research and healthcare innovation. Kraft frequently addresses the future of health, medicine and technology and has delivered four TED and two TEDMED Talks. He is the founder and board member of several Fortune 50 and digital health-related startups and is the inventor of the MarrowMiner, an FDA-approved device for the minimally invasive harvest of bone marrow. Also an avid pilot, Kraft has served in the Massachusetts and California Air National Guard as an officer and flight surgeon and was a finalist for astronaut selection with NASA.

---

Coe College professor earns prestigious fellowship

Coe College Associate Professor of English and National Fellowship Advisor Dr. Amber Shaw has been named an Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) Academic Leadership Fellow. Only 10 fellows were chosen, representing nine ACM institutions. Recipients of the fellowship are tenured faculty in the arts, humanities and humanistic social sciences.

Shaw, who serves as Coe’s English department chair and national fellowship advisor, has guided multiple Kohawks in their pursuit of fellowships and scholarships including a Rhodes Scholar this academic year.

As an ACM Academic Leadership Fellow, Shaw will gain firsthand knowledge and grow her understanding of leadership on college campuses to prepare her to support Coe in navigating current challenges and opportunities.

The fellowship spans two years and Shaw will receive an annual stipend, professional development, course release time and dedicated mentorship. Practical experiences include sessions on budgeting and leading through crisis, large scale project management experience and immersive summer institutes.

​​​​​​"I am thrilled to have been selected as an ACM Academic Leadership Fellow. I look forward to meeting and working with my peers at other liberal arts colleges across the country while also expanding fellowship opportunities for students and faculty on campus at Coe. I am grateful to the Mellon Foundation for recognizing the important role the humanities and humanities faculty members play in liberal arts colleges." 

- Dr. Amber Shaw

While Shaw is engaging in her fellowship, Coe will receive funding to hire replacement instructors. Funding is provided through a generous $1.16 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. This is the second cohort of academic leadership fellows.

Coe will assign special projects to Shaw during her fellowship — each fellow is expected to contribute to campus initiatives like bringing foundational leadership to new campus centers, developing resources to support external grant-seeking or shepherding curricular initiatives among other projects.

​​​​​​"Dr. Shaw already contributes on this campus as a professor, mentor and colleague. She is a proven leader, and I’m excited for her to continue to serve the Coe community in an expanded fashion." 

- Angela Ziskowski, Coe
College Provost

"We witnessed transformative growth in members of our first group of ACM Fellows, and we are confident the same will be true for this second cohort," said Brian Williams, ACM’s vice president for strategic initiatives. "Our work at ACM to deepen the bench of campus leaders is key to supporting our member colleges as they plan for the future in ways that advance their reputations for excellence in teaching, learning and community connectedness."

The 2025-2027 ACM Academic Leadership Fellows will begin their appointed terms on July 1, 2025.

---

Coe’s Justice Learning Initiative: reentry simulation

Coe’s Justice Learning Initiative offers a range of hands-on experiences to learn about the impacts of incarceration and the carceral system. The annual reentry simulation provides a first-hand view into the challenges the formerly incarcerated face when they reenter society.

---

Retired Mercy Medical CEO bringing a lifetime of insight and connections into the Coe classroom

When you're taking Exploration in Health and Society with retired President & CEO of Mercy Medical Center, Tim Charles, as your professor, you can expect a story-centric masterclass across three threads. The first is personal development. Second is the array of career options across the healthcare industry. The third addresses larger issues surrounding trends and policy in health care.

Charles is uniquely qualified as a leader in all three sub-subjects, and he is thrilled to be bringing his wealth of expertise and experience into the Coe classroom. He started teaching the seven-week course March 3.

At Coe, Charles is the latest prominent local industry leader to bring their first-hand knowledge and connections straight to Kohawks in the classroom. For 19 years, Charles held leadership roles at Mercy and its subsidiaries — first as COO for four years and then as CEO for 15 years. He left his roles at Mercy with valuable insights, stories and connections.

​​​​​​"I'm a strong believer that the liberal arts has an incredibly important role in the preparation of individuals aspirating to become successful leaders." 

- Tim Charles

Now, Charles has taken on a new challenge as an educator in higher education. He has guest lectured before in classes taught at Coe, but this will be his first opportunity to teach a full course. He will guide students in a 100-level course, Exploration of Health and Society.

Read the full story here.

---