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…
Since becoming the first graduate of Michigan State University’s Second Language Studies (SLS) Ph.D. program in 2009, Amy S. Thompson has built an extraordinary career as a researcher, educator, and leader in applied linguistics. Most recently, she was honored with the Association of Language Departments Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession presented by the Modern Language Association (MLA). The…
Mustafa Syed, a Michigan State University alum who graduated in Summer 2024 with a B.A. in Religious Studies, has been named a Schwarzman Scholar and will join an elite group of future global leaders selected from around the world for this prestigious graduate fellowship program. He is MSU’s second Schwarzman Scholar in the 10-year history of the award.
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…
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…
Meghan Collins, an MSU alum with a BFA in Art Education who is now the Museum Educator for K-12 and Family Programs at the MSU Broad Art Museum and an Assistant Professor of Art Education in MSU's Department of Art, Art History, and Design, has been selected by the Michigan Art Education Association (MAEA) as the 2025 Museum Educator of…
Four Spartans – two alums, a faculty member, and a current student – played key roles in a pre-Broadway tryout of the new dance musical, Esther, presented by the A.D. Players at the George Theatre in Houston, Texas. This behind-the-scenes collaboration involving three generations of Spartans exemplifies the reach and power of the MSU Department of Theatre network and the…
As an international student from the United Arab Emirates, Kaltham Altaher spent her last semester as a Michigan State University undergraduate not in East Lansing but rather at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Embassy in Washington, D.C., where she did research for the embassy as a Political Affairs Intern. She even served as emcee for a conference that drew members…
Since graduating from Michigan State University in 2006 with a B.A. in Spanish, Lauyren Haight has earned a Juris Doctor degree and has led federal and global corporate investigations at the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and Google. Much of her work has focused on civil rights and sexual harassment investigations. Currently, she works for Microsoft in Washington, D.C., as a Corporate Counsel and Employee Relations Investigator.
Recent Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters graduate Mikayla Thompson, who is a descendant of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, is educating others about Indigenous farming practices and culture through the gardens she helped create and now leads at MSU’s W.J. Beal Botanical Garden and the Nokomis Cultural Heritage Center in Okemos, Michigan.