In May, when they host the 4th Annual Imagine Gala, Ken and Julie Miller will welcome more than 400 guests to an event that has become a yearly gathering point for the community, a benefit aimed at helping young students from Kalamazoo realize their dreams and change the face of medicine.
The Imagine Gala is set for 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 18, 2019, at the medical school’s W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus in downtown Kalamazoo. Demand for seating has been overwhelming, prompting the close of reservations in early April.
Guests receive the red-carpet treatment at the Gala and this year they will partake in a “Havana Nights” inspired evening that will feature authentic Cuban cuisine, drinks, and desserts, as well as Orquesta Ritmo, a 12-piece Latin ensemble from Lansing that will provide the music for nighttime dancing and unwinding under a large sailcloth tent in the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus courtyard.
The overwhelming demand for tickets to this year’s Gala has given way to the what will be the the largest-ever crowd to attend the event. At last year’s festivities, more than 360 guests filled the courtyard and first floor of the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus.
The Imagine Gala helps with needed funding for Early Introduction to Health Careers (EIH), WMed’s pipeline programs for elementary and high school students from Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS).
The pipeline programs are designed to champion the biomedical science and healthcare career aspirations of underrepresented youth. The programs also provide a platform for WMed students to design and teach interactive learning experiences to help elementary and high school students develop leadership, team-building, and problem-solving skills.
EIH was first launched at WMed in 2014 by Dr. Cheryl Dickson, the medical school’s associate dean for Health Equity and Community Affairs. Since then, the pipeline programs have blossomed and now serve more than 180 students, including 49 KPS sophomores in EIH 2 and 80 fourth and fifth graders from KPS in EIH 1. Additionally, the EIH model is being used to serve more than 50 eighth graders from three school districts in Calhoun County as part of efforts there to create programming and support for a health care career pipeline.
This year’s Gala will serve as the occasion for an important announcement regarding a new endeavor around EIH to ensure that high school students from the program are able to realize their dreams.
To honor Ken and Julie’s commitment to education and students in the Kalamazoo community, a campaign is underway to establish a new endowment at the medical school. The endowment will fund medical school scholarships for students from Southwest Michigan, with preference given to KPS graduates who completed EIH.
The Millers have been stalwart supporters of the medical school from the time Western Michigan University President Emeritus John M. Dunn unveiled his vision of what would become WMed more than a decade ago. In many ways, Ken Miller, who is a member emeritus of the WMU Board of Trustees, a WMU alumnus, and CEO of the Millennium Restaurant Group, played a direct role in bringing the medical school to life as he chaired the search committee in 2007 that chose Dr. Dunn as WMU’s eighth president.
As they prepare to host the 4th Annual Imagine Gala, Ken and Julie are following in the footsteps of the event’s previous hosts – Dr. John and Linda Dunn in 2017, and Ronda Stryker and William Johnston in 2018.
The growth of the Gala as a premiere event in Kalamazoo has coincided with an increase in the number of sponsors for the event. Sponsors and underwriters are important and allow the medical school to continue to expand the experience for Gala attendees while contributing to the student pipeline programs.
In addition to the Imagine Gala sponsors, the medical school is also partnering with community businesses, including Delta Hotels Kalamazoo Conference Center, the Kalamazoo Candle Company, and the Millennium Restaurant Group.
While reservations for the 4th Annual Imagine Gala are now closed, sponsorship and underwriting opportunities are still available. For more information, please call 269.337.4370 or visit med.wmich.edu/GALA.