Michigan State University College of Arts & Letters student Mary Claire Zauel is graduating with a perfect 4.0 grade point average and is a recipient of the Board of Trustees’ Award. Each semester, the MSU Board of Trustees recognizes graduating students for earning the highest scholastic average. This fall semester, 52 students received the award, including Zauel. Each of the award…
Writing has always been something I was innately interested in. Throughout all the stages of my life, I would always find ways to engage in it when all other forms of communication fell short. This feeling has remained very much present since the early days of surpassing the single composition page required for writing prompts in elementary school, writing articles for my high school’s newspaper, and composing poems and short stories in my room on the weekends...
As a 2022 CREATE! Micro-Grant recipient, Ryan Freund, a junior majoring in Studio Art, produced a sculpture featuring a single, manipulated Balisong knife. Titled Intersection, Freund utilized the knife's four handle scales to complete the piece. "I find flipping Balisong knives to be very beautiful and have been doing it since I was 13 years old," Freund said. "Their handles are used…
Evamelo (Eva) Oleita came to Michigan State University wanting to pursue a degree in Human Biology, but after re-evaluating her priorities and thinking about the communities she wanted to serve, she is now among the inaugural class of students majoring in African American and African Studies (AAAS) at MSU. Oleita, who is in her second year of her undergraduate education,…
Apparel and Textile Design major Gwen Pinger used a $500 CREATE! Micro-Grant to build a sculpture consisting of thousands of glass beads that hang from elastic strings, each representing a life lost from COVID-19 in Michigan. “The sculpture functions as a sort of wind chime with many long strands of string and glass beads that twinkle in the sun. The beads — in red, white, and silver — form the shape of IV needles,” said Pinger,…
With a passion for Black feminisms, Bailey Griffin, an MSU sophomore, said it’s an honor to be among the first group of students at Michigan State University to declare African American and African Studies (AAAS) as their major. The newly established Bachelor of Arts degree in African American and African Studies is being offered for the first time this year through the Department of African American and African Studies in…
The “Black Feminisms: Past, Present, and Futures” course taught by Chamara Jewel Kwakye, Academic Specialist in MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), emphasizes creativity and the practice of feminism in everyday life –– Black feminism as doing –– while learning “to live life alongside one another.” A core introductory course in MSU’s newly established B.A. in African…
Following this year's launch of the African American and African Studies (AAAS) Bachelor of Arts program, Mike Martin, a junior now double majoring in AAAS and Arts and Humanities, was one of the first students at Michigan State University to transition to the new major. "AAAS isn’t just a major I gain knowledge in, but a place where I actively…
Jhala Martin is one of the first students at Michigan State University to declare African American and African Studies (AAAS) as her major. The new Bachelor of Arts degree offered through the Department of African American and African Studies within the College of Arts & Letters was launched this year to promote and support Black transdisciplinary advocacy, engagement, and thought.…
For Michigan State University sophomore Amber McAddley, her African American and African Studies (AAAS) major is helping her learn about herself and what it means to be “Black in America.” After the new major launched last spring, McAddley became one of the first students at MSU to declare AAAS as their major. While also pursuing a minor in Spanish, McAddley…