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.The Varg-Sullivan Endowed Graduate Awards, presented by the College…

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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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Registration Still Open for 9th Annual Global Digital Humanities Symposium

This year’s Global Digital Humanities Symposium at Michigan State University will, in large part, focus on ethical Artificial Intelligence with each of the three keynote speakers planning to address the topic. Bill Hart-Davidson, Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures at Michigan State University and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the College of Arts &…

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Researching the Role of Community for Black Students at Predominately White Institutions

Evamelo (Eva) Oleita, who is among the inaugural class of students majoring in African American and African Studies (AAAS) at Michigan State University, is researching the experiences of Black girls within predominately white institutions (PWIs) and how those students carve out spaces for themselves to thrive.

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1855 Professor: Researching and Teaching Native American Environmental Ethics

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…

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Religious Studies Professor Returns to Her Native Community for 1855 Professorship

Blaire Morseau grew up in New Jersey and spent most of her life there, including her undergraduate years at Rutgers University, yet she considers Michigan her home. As a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, which is based in Dowagiac, Michigan, Morseau spent many summers in the Great Lakes State where she attended powwows and worked at various…

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Research Shines New Light on Role of Women in Founding Jewish American Education

Laura Yares has spent “years sitting in archives” researching a period of Jewish American education that historians have largely overlooked as insignificant, a period in which very little had been written about up until the release of Yares’ recently published book, Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies with a…

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Indigenous Language Revitalization a Top Priority for Linguistics Student

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…

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