Student Confronts Racial Discrimination with CREATE! Micro-Grant Project

Lauren Slawin, a sophomore majoring in Creative Advertising and Graphic Design, used the CREATE! Micro-Grant program to confront racial discrimination and police brutality in a video essay where she sketches the face of the late George Floyd, an African American man killed during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill, with a voiceover that describes such events as “the second pandemic.”

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CREATE! Micro-Grant Winner Creates Sculpture Representing the Emotions of COVID-19

Marissa Rubaiai, a junior double major in Studio Art and Media and Information with a minor in Comics and Graphic Novels, received CREATE! Micro-Grant funding to support her Rope of Emotion project, which is influenced by the multitude of emotions experienced by so many as a result of the death, loss, isolation, and grief caused by COVID-19.  Rope of Emotion took two months…

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CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit Launches Displaying Winning Projects

The CREATE! Micro-Grant Program supported the launch of 12 student projects that analyze and respond to racial injustice and the struggles brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These projects, ranging from interpretive dance and musical performances to traditional Anishinaabe quill work, videos, podcasts, personal essays, and poetry, can now be viewed online through the CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit.

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Emergency Response Archive of Puerto Rico Receives Mellon Foundation Grant

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Michigan State University a $325,000 grant to support the first phase of the “Emergency Response Archive of Puerto Rico,” a digital open-access repository of Puerto Rican artifacts of disasters pertaining to Hurricane María (2017), the Guayanilla earthquakes (2020), and COVID-19 (2020). The project involves collaboration between MSU, the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras,…

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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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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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Faculty Receive Funding to Develop Open Educational Resources

In an effort to promote equal access to information and spaces for all, MSU Libraries have awarded nine MSU faculty members funding assistance for the creation and adaption of open education resource materials for the 2020-21 academic year as part of a new program designed to help instructors reduce costs for students, improve access to required text, and increase student…

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Micro-Grants Awarded to 12 Art Projects Addressing COVID-19

The CREATE! Micro-Grant Program has selected 12 student projects to each receive $500 to respond critically and imaginatively to events occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the winning projects also will reflect on the fight for social justice in the Black Lives Matter movement, producing art that responds to struggles brought on by the pandemic and acts of police…

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