Gordon Henry, Professor in the Department of English and the inaugural Audrey and John Leslie Endowed Chair in North American Indian and Indigenous Literary Studies, will retire from Michigan State University on December 31, 2023, after more than 29 years of service to the university and community.His work and the impact he has made was celebrated during an event held…
Elan Pochedley, Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University, focuses much of his research and teaching on understanding the sustainable stewardship that Native Americans have demonstrated toward waters, plants, fish, wildlife, and their food systems. “One thing I’ve brought up in my IAH (Integrative Studies in Arts and Humanities) classes is thinking about how Indigenous…
As a Linguistics major with a minor in Indigenous Studies, Mikayla Thompson has a passion for Indigenous language revitalization and is a proud descendant of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Her journey highlights the enduring power of ancestral connections and the unwavering commitment to safeguard the languages that shape identity.Born and raised in Michigan, Thompson’s early years were devoid of…
The genre of horror, and specifically Black horror, has been gaining attention in mainstream media in the last decade. Films by Black writers and directors featuring Black actors — think “ Us” and “Get Out” by writer and director Jordan Peele — are exploring themes of race and gender through a different lens while opening larger dialogues about belonging and…
Michigan State University graduate Josh Kilmer-Purcell is a New York Times bestselling author who, together with husband, Dr. Brent Ridge, founded a multimillion-dollar skin care company, starred in their own reality TV show, and won season 21 of The Amazing Race — and those are just a few of the couple’s many accomplishments in what can be described as an…
Afrofuturism has entered more mainstream conversations in the last decade thanks to its influence on fashion and art, notably in the music of Janelle Monae and in the film “Black Panther.” However, the idea of Afrofuturism, which often combines science fiction, technology, and a Black understanding of liberty, expands beyond pop culture into practice and social action. To help answer…
A gift of $500,000 that’s rooted in reparations and recognizes the powerful contributions being made by Michigan State University’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) toward racial and social justice will benefit the students and faculty of that department for generations to come. The Adrian Dominican Sisters, a Catholic congregation of more than 400 Dominican sisters and 200…
Elias Young, a junior Japanese major at Michigan State University, is applying his language skills and interest in LGBTQ+ culture on an undergraduate research project where he plans to create an open-access database outlying how queer spaces, events, and culture intersect with mainstream Japanese culture. This summer, he will travel to Japan, with support from an Undergraduate Research Initiative grant…
While balancing being a freelance fashion stylist, fashion designer, creative director, and social media influencer, Michigan State University student Takai Taggart also manages the demands of MSU’s newest magazine. As of fall 2022, the Apparel and Textile Design major launched N Crowd, a fashion magazine created by and for Black students. “My main focus when creating N Crowd was to offer a safe space for Black creatives who attend Michigan State University,” said Taggart, who was…
Class assignments provide opportunities to learn, practice, and demonstrate acquired knowledge, and sometimes they do more than that by planting seeds of creative and entrepreneurial inspiration for developing new products or services. It was a class assignment, combined with her own personal experiences as a disabled person, that gave Professional and Public Writing major Charlotte Bachelor the inspiration she needed…