FILMETRY, a film festival that celebrates the union of film and poetry, will give extra emphasis to that union in this year’s festival, when poetry goes to the movies on the page and the screen. As part of the festival, which is free and open to all, 11 short new films adapted from poems informed by films will premiere on…
The completed projects of this year’s CREATE! Micro-Grant recipients can now be viewed online as part of the 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant Showcase. This virtual exhibition includes photos and information on each of these creative projects. In 2023, the CREATE! Micro-Grant program supported the proposals of 13 Michigan State University students who each received $500 to fund their proposed projects. The…
As a recipient of a 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant, Rose Butler-Shriner, a senior English major with a concentration in Creative Writing, used the funding to write an inspirational poem that shines a spotlight on the struggle between mental health and hope. This poem, Ars Poetica: Just a Poem, explores the feeling of being overloaded and the inability to focus on mental…
Although they never had kids of their own, Gregory Shafer and Bernadette Gongora helped raise 39 foster children and soon will have a positive impact on the lives of countless students at Michigan State University for generations to come thanks to the $1.638 million gift they made to MSU’s College of Arts & Letters. Married for 30 years, Shafer and Gongora say…
An academic journal co-created by Kristin Mahoney, Associate Professor in the Department of English at Michigan State University, has received the Council of Editors of Learned Journals (CELJ) Best New Journal Award. This prestigious award was presented on Jan. 5 at the 2024 Modern Language Association Annual Convention in Philadelphia.The journal, Cusp: Late 19th-/Early 20th-Century Cultures, focuses on field-defining scholarship…
As a recipient of a 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant, Doug Mains, an English major with a focus in Creative Writing and a minor in Linguistics, spent this past semester creating a body of prose exploring the intersection between Christian Nationalism, gun violence, fundamentalism, and displays of traditional masculinity. Doug Mains, one of the recipients of a 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant. This year,…
Leonora Souza Paula, Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of English and affiliated faculty in the Global Studies in the Arts and Humanities Program, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and Center for Gender in Global Context was invited to participate in the most recent meeting of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent held at the…
As a recipient of a 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant, Lauren Rake, a senior Film Studies major with a minor in Theatre, spent this past semester writing a screenplay that deals with the sense of isolation and loss of human connection that comes with an increased online presence. This year, 13 CREATE! Micro-Grants were awarded with each winning proposal receiving $500 to…
Kayla Wikaryasz is graduating from Michigan State University this month with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Humanities, a minor in Creative Writing, and a perfect 4.0 GPA. She also is graduating from the College of Arts & Letters' Citizen Scholars program. As Wikaryasz wrapped up the final days of her undergraduate education, she reflected on her nontraditional educational journey and time…
Alaine Weiss credits her time as an undergraduate at Michigan State University as one of the most impactful experiences in her life and her years in East Lansing among her most treasured memories. But the road to becoming a Spartan was difficult, having lost both her parents due to extended illnesses when she was just 11 years old. Were it…