Shawn Loewen, Interim Director of the Second Language Studies program, has been named Associate Editor of The Modern Language Journal, effective January 1, 2018. This marks the third major editorship position that faculty in MSU’s Second Language Studies program recently have been named to. “I'm excited for the opportunity to impact the quality of research investigating how second languages are best…
Susan J. Bandes, Professor of Art History and Director of the Museum Studies Program, recently was honored by the Historical Society of Michigan with a State History Award for her book, Mid-Michigan Modern: From Frank Lloyd Wright to Googie. The book, published in October 2016 by Michigan State University Press, explores the rich variety of modernist architecture that sprang up in…
MSU Professor Adam Brown is an internationally recognized, conceptually driven artist whose work incorporates art and science hybrids that include robotics, molecular chemistry, and emerging technologies that take the form of installation, interactive objects, video, performance, and photography.
These days, videogames do more than entertain. Game designers and developers are finding new ways to incorporate education and awareness into their work, and some are winning awards for it. Assistant Professor Elizabeth LaPensée recently won Best Digital Media Work for her latest game, Thunderbird Strike, at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest Indigenous film and media arts festival. "Receiving…
Dr. Stephanie E. Vasko has been appointed Managing Director of the MSU Center for Interdisciplinarity (C4I). The three-year appointment is effective October 23, 2017, through October 22, 2020. Vasko is currently a Research Associate and the Program Manager for the Toolbox Dialogue Initiative (TDI), a research effort housed in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State University. She also is…
Professor Shawn Loewen has been appointed Interim Director of Second Language Studies, a program designed to provide students a firm foundation in the fields of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), applied linguistics, and foreign language studies. This two-year appointment was effective September 25, 2017. "I'm honored to take over the leadership of such a strong program with excellent students and outstanding faculty," Loewen…
Alison Dobbins, Associate Professor of Integrated Performance Media Design, is at the forefront of a new frontier in theatre – one that integrates digital media, lighting, and theatrical production to provide magical effects for the stage. A motion graphics artist, Dobbins designs special effects for theatre performances using digital media and state-of-the-art projections. “You are taking a field that is…
Kirk Domer has had many successes both at Michigan State University and in the professional theatre world. Since he took the reins as Chairperson of the Department of Theatre in 2011 (and as Acting Chairperson in 2009-2010), the department has opened a 9,370-square-foot, state-of-the-art Scene Shop and a new courtyard for Summer Circle Theatre.
Raised in Hoboken, New Jersey, the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, Yomaira Figueroa thought college was not a possibility for people like her, despite that she became the first person in her family to go to college.
Bill Hart-Davidson recently took over as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education and now oversees all activities associated with Research and Graduate Education in MSU’s College of Arts & Letters. This new appointment became effective August 16, 2017. “I am looking forward to helping continue an exciting transformation of the research culture in the College of Arts & Letters to…