Coe News & Features

Step into Coe College Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Ben Chihak’s virtual reality world. Through their research, Chihak and his students ask participants to step in front of virtual bicyclists careening down a path. The goal? Safely cross between two bicycles.

Following the discovery of the first radio pulsar in 1967, Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell was credited with one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th century. Bell Burnell will speak at the 16th annual Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 29 in Sinclair Auditorium on the Coe College campus.

Examine the rich history and culture of Catalonia — a region in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula — with William P. and Gayle S. Whipple Associate Professor of Spanish Monica Fuertes-Arboix.

Kailey Ann Blunk ’22 is a first-year creative writing and communications major at Coe College. During the fifth grade, Blunk begrudgingly began writing. She was forced by her teacher to enter a short story competition. Ultimately she won first place, and her love of writing was born.

The Coe College chapter of the Society of Physics Students has been recognized for its excellence as a top-tier student-led physical sciences organization.

“This is your future, go further and aim higher,” is a phrase commonly heard by Carolina Sanchez ’19. As the oldest of four and a first-generation college student born to Jose and Luz Sanchez, she takes this advice from her parents to heart.

The unveiling of Coe’s “World War I in Remembrance” exhibit coincided with the observance of Veterans Day. Alice Kitchin Enichen ’53, daughter of former Coe professor Dr. Joseph Kitchin, visited Coe on Nov. 12 to deliver opening remarks.

Christmas will be celebrated with the annual Christmas Convocation beginning at 11 a.m. and Christmas Vespers at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 4, both in Sinclair Auditorium. The services will feature the Coe College Chorale and Handbell Ensemble.

If you saw “Intimate Apparel” at Theatre Cedar Rapids (TCR), you may not have realized that you were among a talented team of Kohawks. When one-third of the cast, three members of the crew and the director and assistant director are Coe students, alumni or professors — crimson and gold shine in the spotlight.

The Iowa/USA Wrestling camp will be held at Coe College beginning July 2019. Most recently housed at Grand View University, Iowa wrestlers will prepare at Coe for Cadet and Junior National Wrestling Championships over the next three summers.

Coe Assistant Professor of Theatre Deanna L. Downes will introduce this month’s Thursday Forum participants to Alice Dunbar Nelson and Mary Powell Burrill — two African American women playwrights of the early 20th century.

Five Coe students have been chosen as Clark Merit Scholars for the 2018-2019 school year. This prestigious award carries a prize equal to one year's tuition.

The Coe College International Club hosted their annual culture show Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. Performers showcased music, dance, fashion, cuisine and theatrical pieces from their native culture.

Falling in love with Coe is easy to do. Julie Kleis Staker ’93 fell in love as a student, then even more so as an admission counselor and assistant director of admissions from 1994-1998. And, true to the adage — Once a Kohawk, Always a Kohawk — she returned to her roots as Senior Associate Director of Operations at Coe in 2006.

The Founders’ Medal is granted by the board of trustees to people of rare and exceptional distinction, both in their profession and in their service to Coe.

Delve into the shifting aesthetic philosophies of pictorial art with Howard Hall Professor of Philosophy Jeffrey Hoover. This Thursday Forum series begins in Ancient Greece with the study of Plato and Pythagoras who located beauty in ideal form.

Written by Anton Chekhov and directed by Dennis Barnett, “The Cherry Orchard” sows the story of Madame Ranevskaya, an aristocratic woman grieving the ultimate loss — the loss of a child. Leaving her family behind, she flees to Paris in an attempt to escape her heartbreak.

Protests ran rampant throughout India as the outcry against gender-based violence evolved. All of this sparked by the gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi.

The Center for Creativity and Careers hosted a Career and Internship Fair for all current students on Oct. 2 in Eby gym. A total of 53 employers were on campus to make connections with Kohawks.

In 1918, a young woman passed away just three weeks after beginning her education at Coe. It’s now been 100 years and some are convinced her spirit never left campus.