32 minute read
FEATURE
story by JOHN LIBERTY
If you’re the 73-year-old leader of a massive company that you have built over more than 50 years, the tendency may be to look back. Not Marc Schupan.
Inside a small room in a nondescript office building on Covington Road in Kalamazoo, the Schupan & Sons Inc. president and CEO sits in a recliner surrounded by framed photos of family, friends and famous athletes and coaches. This is no “I Love Me” wall. It’s a shrine to people Schupan has known, loved and admired through his life, and sitting by this wall he makes it clear he’s not nearly as interested in talking about himself or his career as about what’s next for his company.
“I’m excited about the future because of the people we have,” says Schupan, who turned 73 in late March. “I think we’re going to be creative. We’re never going to bet the farm on anything, but I think
Marc Schupan’s family is very involved in the business, from left: sons Jacob and Jordan, Marc’s wife Jeanne, Marc, daughter Shayna Schupan-Barry and son-in-law John Barry.
we’ll try some things. Maybe some won’t work, so you move on to other things. The world is changing all the time.”
In 1974, at the age of 26, Schupan took over what was then simply a metal recycling company after the sudden death of his father, Nelson. At the time it employed six people from a heatless building on Lake Street.
Now Schupan & Sons is one of the leading metal and plastic recycling and manufacturing companies in the Midwest, with 500 employees and 15 facilities in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana.
Schupan is a walking, talking motivational poster — he always seems to have an inspiring quote handy to preach honesty, loyalty, agility or tenacity. Fittingly, sports had a major role in his youth and nearly became part of his professional calling. He is a member of the Loy Norrix High School Sports Hall of Fame for basketball and football. After graduating from Michigan State University in 1971 with a bachelor’s degree in political science, he earned a teaching certificate and taught and coached baseball, basketball and football in Caro, just east of Saginaw.
Schupan says he was veering toward becoming a lawyer or college basketball coach when, in the summer of 1974, his father asked him to join his scrap metal company, then called Konigsberg Co., which Nelson had purchased in 1968. Marc took a sabbatical from teaching and coaching. A few weeks later, his father died of a stroke. He was 53.
“People say, ‘As an entrepreneur, did you plan any of this?’ Not really,” Marc Schupan says. “When my dad died, it was like failure wasn’t an option. So you did what you had to do. You worked as hard as you needed to. We were never wealthy growing up. We worked. We had good values.
“I wish my father had been around a lot longer to see things. He’d be pretty amazed. We’ve come a long way.”
More than scrap metal
For the first four decades or so, Schupan & Sons branded itself a metal recycling company. But it has moved far beyond the scrap processing yards of its infancy, now boasting five divisions that specialize in industrial scrap recycling, electronics recycling, aluminum and plastic fabrication and distribution, beverage container processing, and materials trading. Marc Schupan is also a principal in UBCR (Used Beverage Container Recovery), the company that collects, transports, and processes empty beverage containers for Michigan’s largest retailers, and the Norwegian-based Tomra, which provides reverse vending machines used for bottle and can returns at large stores.
Still, say company leaders, most folks in Kalamazoo know the company for its scrap metal yard on Miller Road. Each day steady streams of property owners and contractors drop off all sorts of metal at Schupan Industrial Recycling Services, or SIRS. Staff weigh and grade the material and pay customers for the metal. They primarily see aluminum. Occasionally, the staff will spot a unique item that may go to Rescued Metals & Equipment, another limb of the Schupan company tree, instead of heading to a mill for recycling (see story on page 23).
At SIRS, shipping trucks move between a series of warehouses and several large cubes of bundled metal. Most of the facilities are open-air, meaning temperatures can soar during the summer and plummet in the winter. This is the domain of Gary Curtis, president of SIRS, and his team. Consistent with other Schupan leaders, Curtis constantly
Clockwise from top right: CNC milling machines produce custom aluminum and steel products for customers; precious metals extracted from electronics; a sampling of the different product lines available through Schupan & Sons; and employee Nolan Waddell monitors the progress of a product being milled by a Mazak CNC machine.
monitors metal prices and other industry trends. His geographic reach is all of Michigan, northern Ohio and northern Indiana.
“We are putting equipment at a manufacturing facility for them to collect the scrap,” says Curtis during a facility tour, amid beeps, bangs and thumps. “We are picking it up, bringing it back here, grading it, processing it, aggregating it and shipping it to a mill that is going remelt it. They are making raw materials that’ll go back to those same industrial accounts that we’re picking up (from). It’s very much a closed loop.”
Curtis, who grew up in Battle Creek, started working at a metal trading company in Baltimore more than 25 years ago. Schupan & Sons was a major trading partner of the company, and as part of his training Curtis returned to Kalamazoo to learn about the operation here.
“Marc, being the kind of guy he is, spent the whole week with me personally,” Curtis says. “He used to joke around (when) we’d see each other at trade shows — ‘Someday you’ll come back home and come to work for me.’ It took almost 20 years, but it finally happened.” Curtis joined Schupan & Sons seven years ago.
Making the most of metal
About three miles away from SIRS is Schupan’s Electronics Asset Management building, on Peekstock Drive. It’s a relatively new arm of Schupan & Sons, which purchased a company specializing in mining valuable bits of metal from outdated electronics in 2013.
One passes through a metal detector before entering the warehouse. Immediately to the left is ITAD, or IT Asset Disposition. Police departments, law firms, hospitals, schools and others bring their hardware here to be wiped clean and, in some cases, shredded. In another section of the building, employees review a variety of electronics coming through a “triage lane.” Items in good condition are cleaned, tested and resold in the online refurbished electronics store, Fresh Tech Direct. If the electronic item is deemed unusable, it moves to another portion of the building to be dismantled, with its components separated into a series of bulk-sized corrugated boxes. Hard drives. Steel. Plastic. Batteries.
There are thousands of circuit boards here that Operations Manager Drew Beekman and his staff carefully mine to extract gold, silver, platinum and palladium. “The precious metals content in each board varies. You might have a board worth $8 a pound and then one worth 20 cents a pound,” Beekman says.
In 2020, the division successfully recycled 3,500,000 pounds of electronic devices, extracting the precious metals while keeping the hazardous waste embedded in the devices from reaching landfills.
At the other end of the company spectrum is the 140,000-squarefoot Schupan Aluminum & Plastic Sales, or SAPS, located along Davis Creek Court. General Manager Pete Gildea, whose father, Mike Gildea, was a longtime executive at SAPS, winds a tour past a wall of framed, autographed hockey jerseys and uses the Schupan-made hands-free door opener to access the sprawling facility housing dozens of highend metal cutting and bending machines, CNC equipment and row after row of stacked metal and plastic inventory. Forklifts and delivery trucks rumble through the property, which was expanded in 2019.
“SAPS really started in the late ’70s and early ’80s selling out of our scrapyard,” Gildea says. “Someone would want a little piece of this and a little piece of that. Well, then we didn’t have it, so we’d order it from another distributor company. One thing led to another and it evolved” into the manufacture and distribution of aluminum and plastic products for customers in industries including office furniture, outdoor furniture, aerospace, and medical equipment. SAPS is on track to fill 100,000 orders this year.
Schupan & Sons also has a global reach through its Materials Trading division, started in 2017 and led by Andy McKee. The division trades both scrap and new aluminum, used beverage containers, PET plastic and ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The group operates across the U.S., doing business with 350-plus scrap suppliers in more than 30 countries. In 2020, amid the pandemic, Schupan Materials Trading moved 350 million pounds of material, roughly 40 semi-truck loads per day.
And if you’ve ever wondered what happens to the billions of bottles and cans brought back to retailers for deposit in Michigan each year,
look no further than to Schupan’s Beverage Container Recycling division. Led by Tom Emmerich, who has been with Schupan for 27 years, the division has developed one of the nation’s most efficient systems for recycling these beverage containers. Schupan processes about 80 percent of Michigan’s beverage containers generated from the state’s deposit law — 3.6 billion containers annually — helping make Michigan the top U.S. state for beverage container redemption and processing. Pivotal in this division’s work are the efforts of Shayna Schupan-Barry, the company’s director of legislative affairs and strategic partnerships and Marc’s only daughter, who works with lawmakers and environmental groups, providing education and outreach about beverage container recycling.
The restrictions and lockdowns created by the Covid-19 pandemic had a profound effect on all of Schupan’s operations, but in particular the Beverage Container Recycling unit, as can and bottle returns were halted in the early months of the lockdown.
SAPS President John Barry says that the diversified nature of the company as a whole and the experience of its leadership team were key in bringing Schupan & Sons through the pandemic. Barry, who has been with Schupan & Sons since 2005 and is married to SchupanBarry, says the pandemic sparked a lot of innovation at the company.
“The lesson we learned there was we have sophisticated capabilities and an employee base that can do so much more than we envisioned,” Barry says.
For example, Barry thought collapsible intubation boxes for Covid patients would be a major need. He ordered thousands of pounds of clear acrylic plastic that were shaped into boxes that could cover a patient and protect hospital staff from catching the virus. Schupan began producing the boxes and received media attention for its creation.
“It was a great idea and worked for a little while, but as science caught up we learned it wasn’t doing what we thought it was doing,” Barry says.
As a result, the company ended up with about 100,000 pounds of plastic inventory it couldn’t use. Barry and his team pivoted again and used the material to make large plastic dividers, which became hugely important in schools, voting booths, bars and restaurants.
“We have become the sneeze guard capital of Southwest Michigan,” Barry jokes.
Leaving a legacy
As the company and the country slowly emerge from the pandemic, the tight-knit group of executives and family members leading Schupan is looking to the future.
Marc Schupan is proud of his family’s continued involvement and success at the company. When his father died, he renamed the company Schupan & Sons in his father’s honor, a name that became prophetic as Marc’s children became involved in the company.
In addition to Schupan-Barry and Barry, Schupan’s son Jacob, 38, works in the electronics recycling division after careers in the medical community and the transportation industry in Chicago. His other son, Jordan, lives in Los Angeles, and has been the general manager of sales and trading at Schupan since 2017. Jordan is also the co-founder of the clothing company HNLY, which was launched in 2019.
Other relatives are also involved. Marc’s brother Dan, who turns 65 this summer, has been at the company since he was 18. And Marc’s
Top: John Barry runs the Schupan Aluminum and Plastics Sales division. Bottom: Schupan and Sons teamed up with Fabri-Kal to open a health center to serve both companies’ employees.
nephew, Shay Schupan, manages the Rescued Metals & Equipment, a subdivision of Schupan Industrial Recycling.
In late June, Marc and Jeanne Schupan will celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. They met when Marc lived in a 10-foot-by-50foot trailer in a field a few miles outside of Caro. Schupan says he didn’t even have front-door steps to the trailer — just a wooden ramp.
Marc credits Jeanne’s stability and support as key reasons the Schupan family remains close, especially after suffering an unthinkable loss.
The company has 15 locations in four Midwestern states employing more than 500 people; here’s a look at each division and some of its locations in Kalamazoo and elsewhere:
Aluminum & Plastic Sales
About: Takes custom aluminum and plastic orders and fabricates metals and plastics, with customers in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and northern Kentucky. Where: 4200 Davis Creek Court, Kalamazoo, and Dayton and Toledo, Ohio
Industrial Recycling
About: Operates several scrap processing yards, primarily involving aluminum. Where: 2225 Glendenning Road, Kalamazoo, and Elkhart, Indiana
Asset Management
About: Recycles metal from a variety of electronics and provides IT asset disposition (cleaning/wiping of computer hardware). Where: 216 Peekstock Ave., Kalamazoo
Beverage Container Recycling
About: Largest independent recycler and processor of used beverage containers in the U.S. Where: Wyoming and Wixom
Materials Trading
About: Purchases and brokers aluminum and used beverage containers. Where: Worldwide, with representatives across the U.S.
On Nov. 27, 2002, the couple’s oldest son, Seth, was driving Jeanne’s parents, Phyllis and Clarence Gettel, to Kalamazoo for Thanksgiving. Their car was involved in an accident in Gilford Township, near Saginaw, and all three were killed. Seth was 23. Marc
May Donor Spotlight
WMU Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine
Proudly Recognizes Kalamazoo Philanthropists and Medical School Benefactors
Mr. Steve McKiddy & Mrs. Amy McKiddy
We salute Mr. Steve McKiddy and Mrs. Amy Mckiddy for their active involvement with the medical school. Steve and Amy’s work with the WMed Dean’s Circle Leadership Giving Society has played an invaluable role in growing the engagement of Kalamazoo philanthropic leaders in becoming actively involved in the life of the medical school.
We proudly recognize Steve and Amy McKiddy for their leadership, active involvement, and generous financial support in advancing the mission of the medical school.
Thank you, Steve and Amy!
says he couldn’t sleep consistently for two years after the accident. For years, he says, he wrote letters to Seth and essays about coping with grief. He’s thought about using them to shape a book.
“Nobody can write about this if you haven’t experienced it,” he says. “I don’t care what kind of psychologist you are. If you know someone who can say, ‘Here’s where you are and here’s what you’re going to experience,’ you can come out of this better. It will never be OK, but to think there are better days ahead I think would be a good book for people who lost children.”
Marc Schupan says he wears his heart on his sleeve, while Jeanne can be more controlled.
“How many people can go through that and not have your family implode?” he asks. “She’s amazing. She’s pretty amazing.
“The hard part is you never stop missing him. As you get older, you look at what’s important. He was just a great kid. What would life be like today if he was still alive? If he was alive today, my life would be perfect, so to speak. I’ve done everything I’ve wanted to do, within reason. Although, I want those boys married so we can have more grandkids. Those knuckleheads.”
Family members aside, Schupan says repeatedly that the company’s employees are its most important assets, and he has put money behind that assertation. In a highly competitive labor market, the company has invested in retaining and motivating its workforce. In 2018, the company partnered with the manufacturer Fabri-Kal to open a joint health care center on Covington Road for their employees and their families. Schupan also offers tuition reimbursement for employees who want to take courses toward a degree or professional certification. And, yes, Schupan & Sons still gives its employees a turkey every Thanksgiving. In 2020, the company was recognized as one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For by the National Association for Business Resources.
“The man with the best army wins,” Schupan says, noting that the quote came from Rich Holtz, a former vice president at Schupan’s Beverage Container Recycling division.
As Schupan & Sons has flourished, the company has put an emphasis on its philanthropic efforts. Schupan has been heavily involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Kalamazoo for more than 35 years and played a major role in the construction of its current Covington Road building, located a stone’s throw from Schupan headquarters. A few weeks after its opening, the building was named the “Seth Nelson Schupan Mentoring Center.”
The United Way, Kalamazoo Covenant Academy (a public charter high school for students 16-22) and several scholarships have also benefited from the company’s penchant for giving. Schupan & Sons has long been a significant underwriter of the annual New Year’s Fest in downtown Kalamazoo, partners with the Blue Dolphin restaurant to provide free Christmas dinners for more than 1,000 people each year and funds an annual social justice award for youth. And during the pandemic, the company has donated 1,000 refurbished Google Chromebooks from its Electronics Asset Management division to Kalamazoo Public Schools and Kalamazoo Covenant Academy for their students’ use during the study-at-home restrictions.
Upon hire, every Schupan employee gets eight hours of paid time off for community service work. And those Thanksgiving turkeys? Last year, many Schupan employees donated their gift birds to Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes and the Salvation Army to feed the hungry.
“When you look back at what you do, it’s not what you take with you, it’s what you leave behind,” says Schupan. “Are you going to leave a legacy of something that makes a difference?”
Ask
THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING
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THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING LAWYER
LAWYER
MICHAEL J. WILLIS, J.D., C.P.A., WILLIS LAW
Please send your questions to: Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. Please send your questions to: Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. Willis Law 491 West South Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269.492.1040 www.willis.law Q. My husband is going into a nursing home. I’ve been told it is possible for me to create a trust and protect my assets from the spend down at the nursing home. Is that true? A. Yes. Most often when folks talk on trust planning, they are referencing a revocable trust. In fact, that is the case probably more than 99% of the time. A revocable trust under Michigan law generally is set up only to avoid probate--that’s its only benefit. However, there is an irrevocable trust for persons in your circumstances that can be established with your assets to the extent they exceed the protected Please send your questions to: Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. ASK LAWYER THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING MICHAEL J. WILLIS, J.D., C.P.A., WILLIS LAW Q. My husband is going into a nursing home. I’ve been told it is possible for me to create a trust and protect my assets from the spend ASK LAWYER THE BUSINESS AND ESTATE PLANNING Q. Should I list my children as A. This is a question requiring review of your specific family facts and your intentions in your estate plan. That being said, after implementation of the SECURE Act on January 1, 2020, planning with Trusts and IRA assets became Willis Law 491 West South Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269.492.1040 www.willis.law Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, is licensed to practice law in Florida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant in the state of Illinois. Attorney Willis is rated as an A V -Preeminent Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating, according to Martindale, which has been rating lawyers for over a century, signifies that an attorney has reached the heights of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America. amount (which under Michigan law will cap at a little over $125,000). If the trust is irrevocable and the assets are effectively established in an annuity income stream back to you per the terms of the trust, then in such a circumstance the trust will no longer be considered a countable asset, but instead an income stream and thereby exempt for Medicaid purposes. This is a sophisticated planning technique, and I highly encourage you to seek counsel before implementing this technique or any other Medicaid planning. 9471992-01 Willis Law 491 West South Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269.492.1040 www.willis.law down at the nursing home. Is that true? A. Yes. Most often when folks talk on trust planning, they are referencing a revocable trust. In fact, that is the case probably more than 99% of the time. A revocable trust under Michigan law generally is set up only to avoid probate--that’s its only benefit. However, there is an irrevocable trust for persons in your circumstances that can be established with your assets to the extent they exceed the protected amount (which under Michigan law will cap at a little over $125,000). If the trust is irrevocable and the assets are effectively established in an annuity income stream back to you per the terms of the trust, then in such a circumstance the trust will no longer be considered a countable asset, but instead an income stream and thereby exempt for Medicaid Please send your questions to: Michael J. Willis, J.D., C.P.A. Willis Law 491 West South Street Kalamazoo, MI 49007 269.492.1040 www.willis.law MICHAEL J. WILLIS, J.D., C.P.A., WILLIS LAW Q. My husband is going into a nursing home. I’ve been told it is possible for me to create a trust and protect my assets from the spend down at the nursing home. Is that true? A. Yes. Most often when folks talk on trust planning, they are referencing a revocable trust. In fact, that is the case probably more than 99% of the time. A revocable trust under Michigan law generally is set up only to avoid probate--that’s its only benefit. However, there beneficiaries of my IRA, or my revocable trust? much easier. Under the current paradigm, whether you make your IRA payable directly to your children, or to a revocable trust established for your children, the assets must, generally, be drawn down from the IRA over a 10-year period after you have passed away. The prior laws were much more complex and often left planners and financial professionals alike frequently working through contingency scenarios. Of note, if the assets pay to a Trust for your children, and you intend that purposes. This is a sophisticated planning technique, and I highly encourage you to seek counsel before implementing this technique or is an irrevocable trust for persons in your circumstances that can be established with your assets to the extent they exceed the protected Trust to last for longer than 10 years after you die, have no fear. The SECURE Act Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, is licensed to practice law in Florida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant in the state of Illinois. Attorney Willis is rated as an A V -Preeminent Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating, according to Martindale, which has been rating lawyers for over a century, signifies that an attorney has reached the heights of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America. any other Medicaid planning. 9471992-01 amount (which under Michigan law will cap at a little over $125,000). If the trust is irrevocable and the assets are effectively established in an annuity income stream back to you per the terms of the trust, then in such a circumstance the trust will no longer be considered a countable will only require the assets be taxed within 10 years of your death, and it is your Trust that will determine timing of distribution of the IRA assets to your children. asset, but instead an income stream and thereby exempt for Medicaid Michael J. Willis is the Managing Partner of Willis Law, Attorneys and Counselors at Law, is licensed to practice law in Florida and Michigan, and is registered as a certified public accountant in the state of Illinois. Attorney Willis is rated as an A V -Preeminent purposes. This is a sophisticated planning technique, and I highly Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. This rating, according to Martindale, which has been rating lawyers for over a century, signifies that an attorney has reached the heights of professional excellence and is recognized for the highest levels of skill and integrity. encourage you to seek counsel before implementing this technique or He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America. any other Medicaid planning.
WMed Turns 10!
WMed’s First Decade of Innovation, Education, and Community Collaboration
March 22, 2011, was a monumental day for the greater Kalamazoo community.
Not only was it Founding Dean Dr. Hal B. Jenson’s first day on the job, it was also the day that a $100 million gift to Western Michigan University (WMU) to provide foundational funding for the new medical school was announced. The new school would be named Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) in memory of Dr. Homer Stryker, a WMU alumnus and founder of the Stryker Corporation.
Kalamazoo’s long, rich history of excellence in education, healthcare, research, and life science exploration were assets in the development of a new medical school. Through the collaboration of WMU, Ascension Borgess, and Bronson Healthcare, the private medical school was founded and is currently funded through charitable gifts, clinical revenues, research activities, tuition, and endowment income.
“It is a challenging opportunity to create a new medical school, but the odds of successfully creating a great medical school are signifi-
Inside
The Community Impact of WMed Founding Dean Hal Jenson Retires Welcoming New Dean Paula Termuhlen Celebrate With WMed Live
cantly increased when the community is a partner alongside,” said Dr. Jenson.
WMed made another leap forward when Michigan State University Kalamazoo Center for Medical Studies merged into WMed in 2012. The experienced personnel and resources offered by this merger significantly contributed to the development of the undergraduate and graduate medical education programs.
Additionally, William U. Parfet, chairman and chief executive officer of MPI Research and a greatgrandson of W.E. Upjohn, donated a 330,000-square-foot building in downtown Kalamazoo to serve as the medical school’s flagship campus, named the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus.
A $78 million renovation and expansion of that building created a 350,000-square-foot educational facility with two laboratory research floors, a forensic pathology lab, and a state-of-the-art simulation center.
WMed’s reach goes beyond the borders of its downtown campus. The medical school provides clinical services in Kalamazoo County at WMed Health on Oakland Drive and Mall Drive, the Ascension Borgess Hospital Campus, and the Family Health Center. In Calhoun County, WMed has family medicine services at Bronson Battle Creek and Grace Health. The Innovation Center on the Parkview Campus is a life science, technology, and engineering incubator serving early start-ups and maturing companies.
A Decade of Innovation
It has been an impressive decade of achievement for WMed, which has 144 faculty, 241 residents and fellows who train in 10 residencies and five fellowships, 517 staff, and 816 community faculty in 18 academic departments and programs. Its comprehensive, patient-centered, fouryear M.D. curriculum seamlessly integrates basic science and clinical applications. WMed also has master’s degree programs in Biomedical Sciences, Clinical Informatics, and Medical Engineering and several dual degrees with 337 students enrolled on the campus. Because of their roles in creating and developing the innovative curriculum, medical school faculty are recognized nationally and internationally as thought leaders in medical education.
The inaugural medical student class graduated in May 2018. The school’s exceptional success in preparing medical students for residency training is demonstrated by its 99-percent or better match rate into a nationwide network of competitive residency programs.
All slots in WMed’s residency programs are consistently filled and the school is experiencing impressive growth in its graduate medical education. WMed has also achieved accreditation — external validation that the school’s programs meet the highest standards for quality and excellence — for its medical degree program, residencies and fellowships, simulation center, and more.
WMed Impact: Benefitting Southwest Michigan
During its decade of growth and development, the impact of the medical school on the greater Kalamazoo community is truly evident: • WMed Health, the medical school’s clinical practice, offers more than 36 primary care and specialty services in Kalamazoo, Portage, and Battle Creek, providing 63,000 outpatient visits per year. • The school’s Department of Pathology faculty serve as the Office of the Medical Examiner (coroner) for counties throughout Michigan and northern Indiana, completing more than 1,000 autopsies each year.
• Through the active citizenship curriculum, medical school students integrate into more than 30 community agencies to learn and grow from community members of diverse backgrounds. • During the Annual Day of Service, WMed students give back through community service projects that contribute to the needs of the underserved. • In 2020, WMed organizational, employee, and student spending resulted in a $353 million economic impact in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties.
From the beginning, WMed has aimed to create a welcoming environment to learn and work that embodies the medical school’s values of inclusiveness. The medical school has also drawn on the diversity of the Kalamazoo community to attract and retain students, residents, faculty, fellows, and staff underrepresented in medicine.
During its first decade, this commitment has been evident in the development of a master’s degree program in Biomedical Sciences that helps aspiring physicians underrepresented in medicine to successfully transition from undergraduate education to medical school. Preferred relationship programs with other educational institutions, intentional recruitment of faculty and students, and student scholarship programs have contributed to the diversity of WMed. Additionally, the Early Introduction to Health Careers pipeline program and the new Student Athlete to Medical Careers pipeline program will enhance the diversity and inclusiveness of the medical school community.
Creating programs that demonstrate the core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion are critical in preparing medical students to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse patient population and helping to eliminate health disparities within our national healthcare system. Much important work remains to be done.
Founding Dean Dr. Hal B. Jenson to Retire After a Decade of Success
It’s fitting that one of Dr. Hal B. Jenson’s favorite pastimes is mountain climbing, because his career at WMed has been about striving for and leading the medical school to achieve new heights of success. Dr. Jenson was appointed founding dean in early 2011 and has spearheaded the medical school’s development and outstanding achievements over the past ten years. In addition to being the founding dean, Jenson is a professor in the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the founding dean of WMed,” Dr. Jenson says. “Together we have accomplished significant milestones as a new medical school and I want to thank everyone for the privilege of being able to serve as this medical school’s founding dean. The opportunity to work with and lead such a talented group of faculty, researchers, residents, staff, and students has been the honor of a lifetime.“
“At the core of our collective success has been the unwavering involvement and financial support from our community and donors. Without the active involvement, vision, and generous contributions from our community benefactors, WMed could have never accomplished all that it has in our first decade,” said Dr. Jenson. “Kalamazoo is an extraordinary community.”
New Dean Dr. Paula Termuhlen Brings Wealth of Experience
Dr. Paula M. Termuhlen takes over as the new dean of WMed on May 1. Her selection follows an extensive national search to find a successor for Dr. Hal B. Jenson, who is retiring after 10 years as founding dean.
“We are confident Dr. Termuhlen will be an exceptional leader for WMed,” said WMU President Dr. Edward Montgomery, who chairs the WMed Board of Directors and led the search committee to hire the medical school’s new dean. “She is a brilliant surgeon and academic leader who will deliver the quality of medical education that is needed to take WMed to new levels of national distinction.” "I am truly honored to have been selected to serve as the next dean," Termuhlen said. "I’ve greatly enjoyed working with Dr. Jenson and the faculty and staff in preparation for the beginning of my work as WMed’s new dean. My first task will be to launch a listening tour to gather feedback, input, and suggestions from all of WMed’s key stakeholder groups. I believe this process will help to guide and inform my understanding of the medical school’s tremendous potential for the future.
Dr. Termuhlen is a graduate of the St. Louis University School of Medicine and completed her general surgery training at the University of Texas Health Science Center and a surgical oncology fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She is widely published in surgical oncology and surgical education.
Prior to coming to WMed, Dr. Termuhlen has been the regional dean for the Duluth Campus at the University of Minnesota Medical School since 2015. Prior to that, she was a member of the faculty at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, and the Medical College of Wisconsin. She served as a general surgery residency program director at Wright State University and at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She was also vice-chair of the Department of Surgery at Wright State University.
It’s a celebration, a big thank you, and a welcome the new dean event! The medical school will celebrate its first WMU HOMER STRYKER M .D . 10 years of achievement and the retirement of Founding Dean Dr. Hal B. Jenson at its live virtual gala, WMed Live: A First Decade Celebration, on Thursday, May 27, 2021. Our local community, along with medical educators from across the country, are invited to this live, virtual event featuring special guests, national celebrities, internationally recognized medical professionals, and keynote speeches from Kalamazoo business, civic, and philanthropic leaders. Tune in to watch special messages from Association of American Medical Colleges President
Dr. David J. Skorton, acclaimed TV host Tom Bergeron,
Grammy Award-winning singers and songwriters Paula
Abdul and Ne-Yo, and a special musical performance by
American smooth jazz saxophonist Kenny G. This cuttingedge virtual celebration will be co-hosted by Kalamazoo philanthropists and medical school benefactors William D.
Johnston and Ronda E. Stryker and William U. Parfet and
Barbara A. Parfet. While WMed Live is taking the place of the annual inperson Imagine Gala for 2021 due to COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings, it is a star-studded event that is sure to please. In addition to recognizing Dean Jenson for his 10 years of innovative leadership and highlighting the medical school’s impact and accomplishments, the event will include a special welcome to new WMed Dean Dr. Paula Termuhlen and showcase giving opportunities to advance the mission of the medical school. As a private medical school, financial contributions are key to the institution’s financial sustainability.
Pictured above are WMed Live co-chairs are William D. Johnston and Ronda E. Stryker (left) and Barbara A. and William U. Parfet (right).
A live virtual event celebrating a decade of achievement and Founding Dean Dr. Hal B. Jenson’s retirement Thursday, May 27, 2021 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Register at med.wmich.edu/WMedLive2021
You Can Support WMed’s Next Decade and Beyond
The WMed Philanthropy Team extends a special invitation to our community partners to show their support for the medical school’s tenth anniversary by making a gift. “Philanthropic donations allow WMed to continue its mission to educate future physicians, serve patients in the community, and create new knowledge that makes a difference in the world,” shared Jack Mosser, WMed associate dean for development.
“The medical school strives to educate and inspire lifelong learners to be exceptional clinicians, leaders, educators, advocates, and researchers of tomorrow through programs that promote health equity and advance community values of diversity and inclusion,” said gala co-chair, William D. Johnston.
“These activities and the strong engagement of WMed with the community underscore how transformative a medical school can be for a community like Kalamazoo,” said gala co-chair William U. Parfet.
“This degree of collaboration also represents the spirit of WMed — the spirit of authentic collaboration and service. Philanthropic partnerships enhance the collective power of WMed to do good,” William U. Parfet also shared.
Through a VIP Sponsorship of WMed Live, you can: • Play a leadership role in supporting health equity, diversity, and inclusion activities in Kalamazoo. • Expand the reach of medical education, research, and healthcare delivery across Southwest Michigan. • Showcase your commitment to health education, research, and patient care. • Connect with other community leaders to support the mission of the medical school for the future.
Your financial support for WMed Live will extend the reach of the medical school by helping to sustain medical student scholarships and growth in medical resident opportunities in the region, fund programs to remove barriers to health equity, and advance the health and wellbeing of everyone in the community.
For more information about WMed’s giving programs contact Lori Larsen, manager of annual giving, at (269) 337-6575 or visit med.wmich.edu/giving.
