Alexis Black is always up for a good fight. And since February 2022, the Assistant Professor of Acting and Movement at Michigan State University has been choreographing stage combat for the Tony Award-nominated production of Macbeth, currently on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. Working alongside her long-time mentor David Leong, Black is the Assistant Fight Director for the production, which runs…
In this Faculty Voice, Brad Willcuts, Associate Professor of Musical Theatre and Choreography in the MSU Department of Theatre, shares how theatre pushes the limits of human emotion and why Pride Month in June is important to him and the greater theatre community. In the role of choreographer, Willcuts also discusses being a part of a new interpretation of one of the…
In the latest Conversation with CAL, Dean Christopher P. Long discusses innovations and changes in the College of Arts & Letters, upcoming events in the summer, a new approach to strategic planning for the College, and answered questions from faculty and staff.
Jonathan Choti, an African-born scholar and Assistant Professor of African Languages and Cultures at Michigan State University, will engage with counterparts in Kenya this summer as part of the 2022 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program. Choti, who is a faculty member in MSU’s Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures, received the prestigious fellowship to co-develop and strengthen curriculum, grow research, and mentor…
“Afrofuturism” was first coined by author and culture critic Mark Dery in his 1993 essay, “Black to the Future.” Since then, Afrofuturism has grown as an artform, practice, methodology, and area of study. In this Ask the Expert piece, Michigan State University Professor Julian Chambliss delves into what Afrofuturism is as a practice, as well as ways it shows up…
Dionne O’Dell, Academic Specialist in the Department of Theatre at Michigan State University, will lead MSU’s Arts, Cultural Management, and Museum Studies (ACM&MS) program as Interim Director, effective Aug. 16, 2022. Kiersten F. Latham, the current Program Director, has accepted a position as President and CEO of Sauder Village in Ohio. “I am honored to serve as Interim Director for the Arts, Cultural Management,…
Religion and sound are tied together in evocative ways. Church bells. Public proselytizing. Calls to prayer. Tantric chanting. What does religion sound like, and how can we learn new truths about the diversity of religion in the United States when we listen? Amy DeRogatis, Professor of Religion and American Culture and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State…
A new collaboration between MSU’s Red Cedar Writing Project and the Capital Area District Libraries (CADL) will reconnect communities to the arts and humanities through a new set of library programs. Pioneering this project is Trixie Smith, Director of the Red Cedar Writing Project, who won the National Writing Project’s (NWP) Building a More Perfect Union National Endowment for the…
The Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH) recently announced the winners of this year’s Faculty Teaching Awards, which include the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, Somers Award for Excellence in Teaching, IAH Award for Excellence in the Mentorship of Graduate Assistants, and the Service to IAH Award. The Fintz Award for…
In this episode of Conversations with CAL, the College of Arts & Letters hosted a conversation with Department of English Professor Gordon Henry, titled "Living Nations, Living Words: Contemporary American Indian Poetry in the United States."
