Since joining the MSU faculty in 2001, Dr. Danielle Nicole DeVoss has achieved national and international prominence in the field of rhetoric and composition, particularly for her contributions in the areas of digital rhetoric, multimedia composing, and assessing digital writing.
Sometimes to understand our current worldview, it is necessary to examine and understand the events of our past, at least according to Assistant Professor of French Valentina Denzel, whose area of research focuses on how the Age of Enlightenment, an intellectual and philosophical European movement during the 18th century, continues to shape our everyday life. Denzel first became interested in…
What does religion in the Global Midwest sound like? Where should one go to hear it? How might we understand religious diversity in the global Midwest if we begin by listening? The Religious Soundmap Project invites broad public audiences to experience the religious diversity of the Midwest through sound. The hope is to invite new ways of thinking about religion in the global Midwest.
After spending more than a year in Germany in both research and internship positions, senior double-major Jake Blythe gained invaluable knowledge in both his areas of study: German and Urban Planning. Blythe is interested in exploring how “mega-events,” such as the Olympics and the World Cup, affect the urban development of cities. For each impending mega-event, various cities bid on…
This week’s mass shooting in Las Vegas has one College of Arts & Letters student thinking about the importance of her research on lone terrorists. Guin Overly, a senior with a double major in Arabic and Psychology, is analyzing the motivation behind lone terrorism as a Research Assistant for former MSU Assistant Sociology Professor Bernard Finifter.
With help from the Citizen Scholars program, sophomore Claire Gault spent this past summer traveling throughout China and studying at Harbin Institute of Technology, located in Northeastern China. She also received funding from Citizen Scholars to establish a composting program in her residence hall. A double major in Professional Writing and Chinese, Gault is a member of the Citizen Scholars…
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…
A College of Arts & Letters faculty member is helping establish a research presence at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing while focusing on enhancing patient care through the use of information technology. Dawn Opel, Assistant Professor of Digital Media and User Experience in MSU’s Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures, is one of the first two Research Fellows named by…
Associate Professor Cristina Schmitt is leading the way in one area of linguistics research and recently was awarded a three-year $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance that research even further. Schmitt, who is a faculty member of MSU’s Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, is using the NSF funding to investigate first…
This year, five undergraduate students majoring in Religious Studies were featured at the Religious Studies Undergraduate Research Conference and Awards Presentation. Two of the five students, Addison Bordine and Emma Pittsley, presented their research and senior thesis. Pittsley’s thesis, “The Student’s Path to Developing a Social Enterprise,” focused on the ground work in planning an organization to support interfaith families.…