Collectively Building Anew: the Department of African American and African Studies

As we distance ourselves to help stop the spread of a deadly virus, a new department is being built within Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters — the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS). At the helm of this momentous effort are Ruth Nicole Brown, Inaugural Chair of AAAS, and Tamura Lomax, Founding Associate Professor. “We…

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Alumna Serves on COVID-19 Response Task Force

MSU College of Arts & Letters alumna Zekiye Salman is helping her community in the fight against COVID-19 as a member of the Ingham County COVID-19 Response Task Force, a position for which her MSU education helped prepare and lay the groundwork for. Salman, who graduated from MSU in 2013 with dual bachelor’s degrees in Religious Studies and History, is…

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Putting Tests to the Test: Assessing High-Stakes Exams for Second Language Learners

While earning undergraduate degrees in French and Philosophy, Paula Winke was inspired to blend her interests in language learning, research, and social justice. Today, she’s an applied linguist, researching the ethics and effectiveness of foreign language testing as Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages and Director of the Second Language Studies Program Winke works in foreign language…

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Young Joon Kwak Chosen as 2020-2021 Critical Race Studies Artist-in-Residence

This year's College of Arts & Letters' Artist-in-Residence of Critical Race Studies is Young Joon Kwak, a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily through sculpture, performance, video, and collaboration. The Critical Race Studies Artist-in-Residence program, offered by the Department of Art, Art History, and Design (AAHD), will give Kwak the opportunity to produce a substantial public project that engages in critical approaches to diversity and inclusion…

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Welcome AAAS Minors

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…

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Ph.D. Student Awarded King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship

Ja’La Wourman, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, was awarded the King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship award, which aims to increase the pool of academically underrepresented candidates pursuing faculty teaching careers in postsecondary education. The $35,000 award, funded by the State of Michigan’s Michigan Talent Investment Agency and the Michigan State University Graduate School, is designed to…

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Closing the Health Care Gap Through Patient Engagement, Partnership

Michigan State University researchers have been awarded a $3.75 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for research focused on decreasing cardiovascular disease risk morbidity and mortality for minority and low-income populations with diabetes mellitus.  Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. The researchers have found that better patient engagement and communication between patients and physicians may…

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