My family and I were attending a virtual Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) service when our son texted us that Ruth Bader Ginsburg — or RBG, as he and all his young generation knew her — had just passed away. Minutes later, the rabbi, clearly shaken by the news, gave a heartfelt tribute to Ginsburg. My heart dropped at hearing…
Dear AAAS Minors,Welcome to the new Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) at Michigan State University! We are Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown, the Inaugural Chair, and Dr. Tamura Lomax, Founding Associate Professor. Together we make up the two 100% appointed faculty in the new AAAS Department. On the first day of classes, it is our pleasure to officially welcome you to an exciting upcoming academic year! We bring with us densely rich…
Cheryl Caesar, Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, recently published a book, Flatman: Poems of Protest in the Trump Era, which is a compilation of 40 poems that explore the actions of the Trump administration from September 2018 to May 2019. It’s an artistic response to the emotions evoked within Caesar during the Trump presidency. “The process of writing this…
Karen Moroski-Rigney has been appointed Interim Director of Projects and Education for the Writing Center in the College of Arts & Letters. Her appointment runs from June 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Trixie Smith, who currently is on sabbatical, will return to her position as the Writing Center Director in January 2021. As the Interim Director of Projects and Education, Moroski-Rigney…
Grace Pregent has been appointed Interim Director of The Writing Center in the College of Arts & Letters. Her appointment runs from June 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Trixie Smith, who currently is on sabbatical, will return to her position as The Writing Center Director in January 2021. Pregent began serving as the Associate Director of The Writing Center in 2019,…
Paula Winke, Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, has been appointed Director of the Second Language Studies Program in the College of Arts & Letters, effective August 16, 2020, through August 15, 2024. The Second Language Studies (SLS) Program is an interdisciplinary research and pedagogy program whose members investigate the acquisition and teaching…
Salah Hassan has been appointed Director of the Global Studies in Arts and Humanities (GSAH) program. This three-year appointment is effective August 16, 2020, to August 15, 2023. Hassan served as Interim Director of GSAH during the 2019-2020 academic year. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of English and a core faculty member in the GSAH and Muslim Studies programs. A…
Kinitra Brooks grew up connecting ideas, asking questions, and demanding the freedom to do so. Today, the Associate Professor in MSU’s Department of English continues to push boundaries through her study of Black women, genre fiction, popular culture, and the work of conjure women as intellectual history. “Basically, I teach and research Black women creating weird stuff,” Brooks said. “That includes Black women…
Elena Ruíz’s anti-violence research has attracted the interest and support of advocacy organizations and philanthropic groups world-wide, including the Me Too Movement Organization for which she was named principal researcher for gender-based violence in January 2020. An Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Philosophy, Ruíz identifies strategic interventions for sexual violence and social structuresthat harm and keep people from meeting their basic needs. Through cross-disciplinary…
Stacia Rigney, Assistant Professor and Affiliated Graduate Faculty in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, has been appointed Director of the College of Arts & Letters Citizen Scholars program, effective August 16, 2020. “I'm excited to work in the Citizen Scholars Program. One of the university's main responsibilities is to prepare students to be informed, equitable, inclusive, and active citizens.…