Michigan Impact

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

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…

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…

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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…

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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.

A composite image featuring four headshots of individuals side by side. From left to right: a man in a suit and tie with glasses, a man with shoulder-length wavy gray hair in a floral-patterned shirt, a woman with long brown hair wearing a white shirt and a blue sweater, and a woman with short brown hair wearing green-framed glasses and a gray coat. They are all smiling.

Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / International Impact / Linguistics / Michigan Impact / News / Research / Scholarship / U.S. Impact

Applied Linguistics Scholars Among Top 2-Percent of Scientists Worldwide

March 14, 2025

Four professors from the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University are among the top 2% of scientists in the world, according to Stanford University’s latest World’s Top 2% Scientists list, which identifies scholars who are top-cited in their respective fields.

Two women wearing black sit on a theatre stage that is lit in red. One woman is sitting and looking straight ahead. The other woman is more in the background of the left and sitting at an angle. A group of discarded chairs surround both women. Photo by Federico Sigillo.

Arts MSU / English / Faculty / Faculty / Italian / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Lecture Series / Michigan Impact / News / Performance / Theatre / U.S. Impact

U.S. Premier of Italian Play Addressing Themes of Sexual Violence Coming to MSU, Other Universities

February 24, 2025

In the U.S. debut, acclaimed Italian playwright, actor, and director Giuliana Musso will explore the traumatic effects of silence when sexual abuse occurs at home through her play “Dentro (Inside): A True Story, If You Think So.” The play is a dramatized account of real-life conversations, Musso’s research on the topic, and her own attempt to bring awareness to the…

AAHD / Arts MSU / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Michigan Impact / News / Visual Arts, Arts Administration, and Performing Arts

Faculty Voice: I’m a Maker and a Storyteller

February 14, 2025

Teresa Dunn is a Mexican American artist raised in rural southern Illinois. Her identity life and art are influenced by her racial and cultural heritages and the complexities of being a brown woman in the Midwest. She's a Professor of Painting and Drawing in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design in the College of Arts & Letters. Dunn wrote the…

Alumni / Michigan Impact / News / Performance

MSU Students, Faculty and Alums Partner with Flint Repertory Theatre in Reading of New Musical

December 9, 2024

In a first of its kind partnership, a group of MSU Department of Theatre students and alums recently participated in a reading of a new musical with the Flint Repertory Theatre. The collaboration provided students a unique opportunity to work with theatre professionals from New York City and the Flint Rep as they gained firsthand experience working on a new…

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Alumni / Arts MSU / Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Linguistics / Michigan Impact / News / U.S. Impact

Preserving Native American Culture and Traditions Through Language and Craft

November 22, 2024

Ellie Mitchell is on a mission to preserve Indigenous languages, arts, and crafts to ensure that Native American culture and traditions remain vibrant for future generations. A member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe and a Michigan State University alum with a B.A. in Linguistics, Mitchell is using her MSU education to support tribal language programs across the country as…

Award / Faculty / Faculty / French / Italian / Michigan Impact / News / U.S. Impact

Italian Language Instructor Honored with Statewide Post-Secondary Educator Award

November 21, 2024

Carmen De Lorenzo, Instructor and Coordinator of the Italian Program in the Department of Romance and Classical Studies at Michigan State University, has received the Michigan World Language Association’s (MIWLA) Georges J. Joyaux Post-Secondary Educator Award, recognizing her outstanding achievements in language education and dedication to expanding cultural and educational opportunities for her students and the MSU community.