Arabic Students Paired with Syrian Refugees to Help Learn the Language

Crossing both cultural and language barriers, two MSU Arabic classes are gaining true conversational experience through the creation of an Arabic language conversation program that pairs students with Arabic-speaking refugees from Syria. Each student in the ARB 201 and 401 classes taught by Assistant Professors of Arabic Camelia Suleiman and Cheng-Wei Lin was set up with a Skype account to communicate with…

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Bridging Two Cultures Through Art and Graphic Design

Living “in-between” is not easy, but MFA Graphic Design student Mehrdad Sedaghat Bachabani is using that to his advantage by leveraging his multinational experiences and graphic design background to make the most of living within two vastly different cultures. Since moving to East Lansing a year and a half ago, Sedaghat has curated an exhibit that brought artwork from his hometown of…

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Making Art Accessible to the Visually Impaired

MSU’s Digital Humanities & Literary Cognition Lab, the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD), and Exceptions journal continue to carry on an MSU tradition of excellence and inclusion by organizing a one-day, hands on, accessible art exhibit for those with visual impairments. Displaying 16 works of art designed to be accessible to individuals with visual impairments, the exhibit, titled Sense of Self: Accessible Art…

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Students Create Accessible Art for Broad Exhibit

A one-day interactive exhibit at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, focusing on art accessibility across the visual ability spectrum, will feature creative work by MSU students in literature and art combined with renowned speakers in disability studies. The public is invited to attend and engage with these dynamic works of art. Titled Sense of Self: Accessible Art and Disability Studies, the…

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Global Perspectives Symposium to Focus on Arabic Language and Culture

The public is invited to "Blurring Boundaries: Arabic Identities Across the Mediterranean and Beyond," a global perspectives symposium at Michigan State University scheduled for November 1-3. This is the first time the conference is being held. This free event will delve into the forces of globalization, securitization, and minoritization through the lens of the Arabic language, a language which has…

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MSUFCU Awards $750,000 to Critical Race Studies Residency

The Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU) has awarded MSU’s College of Arts & Letters $750,000 to support the Department of Art, Art History, and Design’s Critical Race Studies Residency Program, which has brought two Artists-in-Residence to campus for the 2017-2018 academic year. The MSUFCU gift will help advance the Critical Race Studies Residency Program's mission of enriching the life…

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New WRAC Professor to Contribute to Critical Diversity in a Digital Age Initiative

Kristin Arola has been hired as Associate Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC), effective August 16, 2017, and will contribute to the development of the College’s Critical Diversity in a Digital Age (CDDA) initiative as well as to the Cultural Rhetorics doctoral concentration. Arola previously served as Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Composition, and Technology at…

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Inaugural Appointments Set for Critical Race Studies Residency Program

MSU’s College of Arts & Letters has established a Critical Race Studies Residency Program that will bring an Artist-in-Residence and a Designer-in-Residence to campus for the 2017-2018 academic year to enrich the life of the greater Lansing community by facilitating practices of inclusion through art and design as part of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design. Appointed to…

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