MSU Faculty, Students Support U.S. Embassy Climate Project with International Ballet Company

At Michigan State University, faculty and students are using theatre and dance to illuminate the effects of climate change through a project in partnership with Bullfrogs Ballet artists, educators, and students in North Macedonia. The Ripple Effect project was funded in part by the U.S. Embassy, MSU Office of Research and Innovation’s Climate Justice and Environmental Ethics Award, and MSU…

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Tracing the Roots of Indigenous Science Fiction and Futurisms in America

A photo of a Star Wars stormtrooper that hangs in Blaire Morseau’s home epitomizes both her childhood passions and current research pursuits. The photo appears in a frame with a unique Southwest design, a favorite find bought from a Native artist when Morseau was a graduate student at the University of New Mexico. Now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University and an inaugural 1855 Professor of Great Lakes Anisshinaabe Knowledge, Spiritualities, and Cultural Practices...

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Ask the Expert: Making Holiday Meals More Welcoming

Holidays and celebrations often involve eating together with family and friends. But what does it mean to eat well together? How can food allergies, restricted diets, and even certain medications make sharing a meal more challenging for guests as well as hosts? Megan Dean, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University, explores the ethics of eating and brings to…

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Professor Works to Expand Horizons in Russian Language Learning with New Online Resource

When the war in Ukraine altered the landscape of global politics, study abroad opportunities, and perceptions of Russian speakers, Shannon Donnally Quinn, Associate Professor of Russian in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures at Michigan State University, saw an urgent need to rethink the way Russian is taught. Quinn's response was to create an open educational resource (OER) that…

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$3M Mellon-Funded ‘Creativity in the Time of COVID’ Has Local and Global Impact

When the world went into lockdown in the face of COVID-19 and while adapting to social distancing, zoom, and masks required, many, in their isolation, turned to art and creative expression as a way to cope with the stress, grief, loneliness, and loss brought on by the pandemic. This artistic exploration, born from confinement and fueled by emotions of uncertainty…

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MSU Researcher Awarded $650K NSF Grant to Expand Educational Opportunities through Linguistics Project

Michigan State University Researcher and Assistant Professor of Linguistics Betsy Sneller was awarded $646,385 from the U.S. National Science Foundation, or NSF, to expand educational opportunities for students as part of the MI Diaries linguistics research project. Sneller and Associate Professor of Linguistics Suzanne Evans Wagner launched MI COVID Diaries in April 2020 to answer questions about how language changes…

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Philosophy Ph.D. Candidate Recognized for Outstanding Achievement in the Letters

Nic Cottone, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State University, was awarded the 2024 Varg-Sullivan Endowed Graduate Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Letters in recognition of her outstanding research on feminist philosophy and social theory that primarily focuses on theories of social reproductive labor and sexual violence.

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Ask the Expert: How Is Spirituality Expanding Beyond Religion?

Spirituality is declining in the United States if you focus on religious affiliation, but that isn’t the whole story according to Morgan Shipley, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University. A recent Pew Research Center survey reports that 28% of U.S. adults say they are religiously unaffiliated. By digging a little deeper, Shipley finds the religiously unaffiliated, sometimes…

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Afrofuturism & Quilting Exhibition: Exploring Connections Within Teaching, Learning, and Quilt Praxis

Stitch by stitch, quilt making has played an integral role in African American history. But the storytelling embedded in the quilts themselves is more than mere tradition. In the Afrofuturism & Quilts: Materializing Black Futures & Black Womxn’s Quilt Legacies Exhibition now on display through Friday, July 19, at the MSU Union Art Gallery, local and national quilt artists and quilt scholars explore embodied and theoretical connections between Afrofuturism and quilt making.

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University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum Set for April 12

Michigan State University’s 26th annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF) will take place Friday, April 12, both online and in person at the Breslin Student Events Center. This hybrid event will feature research projects and creativity from hundreds of undergraduate students at MSU, including many students from the College of Arts & Letters.  

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