Coming Full Circle

An alumni couple gives back to Walsh in the form of a symbolic sculpture

By Sarah Gudenau

Students who enter the Walsh campus are greeted by a work of art that has been years in the making. “ZERO,” a 5-foot wide and nearly 10-foot tall steel sculpture, is a gift from alumni Kathy Kosmatka (BAC ’77) and Gregory Kosmatka (BBA ’78), who funded the work by local artist Kristyn Koth. The sculpture was commissioned years ago to Koth, owner of Parallel Studio in Detroit. Koth designed and constructed the sculpture in remembrance of her brother Bryce Koth, a Walsh alumnus who passed away in the summer of 2014. The stainless steel and corten steel sculpture is embedded with mathematical and accounting symbols from ancient times to the present. Its name, “ZERO,” signifies an important development in mathematics: 

Modern math and accounting would not be possible without the number zero. 

A symbol of change, the sculpture stands at the entrance of Walsh’s Troy campus, representing how knowledge has evolved over time, as well as how students will evolve during their education at Walsh, according to Kathy Kosmatka. As students enter the doors of the building, they see the corten steel side, which has an orange, “rusty” appearance; upon exiting, students can see the shiny stainless steel side that represents their newfound knowledge and transformation post-graduation.

“I feel strongly that Walsh played an important role in my practical as well as theoretical learning experiences,” says Kathy Kosmatka, who was the first female partner at Touche Ross (now known as Deloitte) in Michigan in 1988 and is currently serving on the Walsh Board of Trustees. “My professors had real business-world experience, which directly led to my employment at Touche Ross. We were excited that we were approached with the opportunity to fund this unusual piece of work with so much symbolism in it.”