Lansing-East Lansing Impact

‘Nexus’ Exhibit Features Work by Artists Who Help Shape MSU’s Arts Community

August 26, 2025

Michigan State University’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design (AAHD) is shining a spotlight on the creative work of its academic staff, offering the public a look into the lives and practices of the artists who help shape MSU's arts community. Their work, brought together for the “Nexus” exhibition, is now on display through Sunday, Sept. 21, at (SCENE) Metrospace.

A group of college-aged performers on a theater stage, energetically acting out a scene. One performer stands center stage with arms outstretched, surrounded by others wearing red and green shirts, some crouching and others clapping or laughing in the background.

Arts MSU / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Performance / Student / Theatre / Visual Arts, Arts Administration, and Performing Arts

MSU Department of Theatre Looks Forward to 2025-2026 Season

August 21, 2025

The Michigan State University Department of Theatre’s 2025-2026 Season, Secrets & Spotlights, features performances designed to foster empathy by immersing audiences in stories that highlight diverse characters and perspectives. The season opens with “Taking Off!” — a New Musical Laboratory production running Sept. 19-21, 2025 — and concludes with a Storefront Series production April 23-26, 2026. Seven additional shows will be presented throughout the year.

Alumni / Arts MSU / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News / Publication / Publishing, Editing, and Authorship / Research / Theatre

MSU Faculty Member Publishes Book on Creating Theatre With Neurodiverse Audiences in Mind

June 30, 2025

For nearly a decade, Dionne O'Dell has led the Sense-Ability Ensemble at Michigan State University, which develops multisensory theatrical works for audiences often excluded from traditional performance spaces. Dionne O'Dell O’Dell is an Academic Specialist in MSU’s Department of Theatre who specializes in teaching children’s theatre and writing and directing plays for youth and community, and Routledge has now published…

A DJ behind a sound mixing board creates music for a crowd of dancing people in a warehouse setting. Photo credit: Doug Coombe

English / Exhibition / Faculty / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News / Research

Ask the Expert: How Detroit and Its People Are Integral to the Rise of Techno Music

May 19, 2025

The story of techno music often focuses on a global narrative without acknowledging that it began in Detroit, Michigan — a place where Black people for decades have harnessed sound and music to reflect their experiences. During the 1970s and 1980s, techno was explored and celebrated by Black and queer communities across radio waves and in warehouse spaces around the…

A group of people stands around a fire pit at night, warmly lit by the flames. Others sit in a circle of camp chairs watching attentively. The gathering takes place outdoors on a grassy field, surrounded by trees and illuminated by a tall outdoor heater.

Arts MSU / Faculty / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Student / Theatre / Visual Arts, Arts Administration, and Performing Arts

Theatre Students Bring Immersive Storytelling to Corey Marsh in Support of Ecological Research

May 8, 2025

In a collaboration between arts and sciences at Michigan State University, the Department of Theatre presented six immersive outdoor theatrical performances of “The Grown-Ups,” set around a campfire at the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center, a 350-acre property located in Laingsburg, Michigan, that is managed by MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Alumni / English / Event / Featured Alumni / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News

English Alum Distills Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy, and Spartan Spirit and Now the Spring 2025 Commencement Address

May 1, 2025

When Chad Munger graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in English, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his degree or career. But his willingness to take risks and to seek out and seize opportunities has propelled him to success as an entrepreneur and to becoming a transformative philanthropist. It also has led him to…

AAHD / Arts MSU / Event / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News / Student / Student

Graduate Student Pursues First-of-Its-Kind Dual Program While Using Art to Explore Ecological Loss

April 21, 2025

Hailey Becker often chooses the path less traveled, and when there is no path, she has no problem blazing her own. In fact, her high school math teacher once told her: “the best job for you probably doesn’t exist yet.” Embracing her trailblazing nature, Becker is currently enrolled in a first-of-its-kind at Michigan State University – a dual program that…

A picture of a woman with long brown hair, a black top, and a white necklace. Green curtains and a window fill the background.

Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Italian / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News / Scholarship

MSU’s Italian Program Coordinator Takes On New Role to Shape How Italian is Taught in Michigan

March 25, 2025

Carmen De Lorenzo, Instructor and Coordinator of the Italian Program in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University, will help shape how Italian is taught and experienced in Michigan as part of her newly appointed role as the Michigan Representative for the Osservatorio della Lingua Italiana nel Mondo. This appointment from the Italian Consulate honors De Lorenzo’s dedication to advancing…

A side-by-side portrait of two men. On the left, a man with long, wavy gray hair and a floral button-up shirt is smiling against a neutral background. On the right, a man with short black hair, a beard, and a floral button-up shirt is also smiling against a plain white background.

Award / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / International Impact / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Linguistics / Michigan Impact / News / Publication / Publishing, Editing, and Authorship / U.S. Impact

Professor Receives National Award for Second Language Teaching and Learning Textbook

March 21, 2025

Shawn Loewen, Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University, received a 2025 PROSE Award from the Association of American Publishers (AAP) for his co-authored textbook, A Practical Guide to Second Language Teaching and Learning. The 2025 PROSE Awards recognize the very best professional and scholarly works published in 2024 in the United States in five areas of excellence.

African American and African Studies / Arts MSU / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Event / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / News

Boston’s Poet Laureate Selected as 2025 Womxn of Color Initiatives Artist-in-Residence

March 19, 2025

Michigan State University’s Womxn of Color Initiatives (WOCI) has selected Porsha Olayiwola, Poet Laureate for the city of Boston, Massachusetts, as its 2025 Artist-in-Residence. An award-winning poet, performer, educator, and curator, Olayiwola employs Afrofuturism and surrealism to explore historical and contemporary issues within the Black, woman, and queer diasporas. She will be in residence on Michigan State University’s campus March 24-27.