Religious Studies

A picture of a man in a black suit with a red-and-grey striped tie.

Professor Follows in Father’s Footsteps by Receiving William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award

July 15, 2024

In recognition of his scholarly excellence, instruction, and extensive outreach, Mohammad Hassan Khalil, Professor of Religious Studies, Adjunct Professor of Law, and Director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University, recently was awarded the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award. And remarkably, he is the second person in his family to receive this prestigious honor. “My father was…

Three photos cropped together of people smiling.

Award / News / Religious Studies / Student / Student

Religious Studies Students Honored for Outstanding Achievements

April 22, 2024

The Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University recently held its 2024 Undergraduate Symposium and Awards Presentation, which shined a spotlight on undergraduate research and the outstanding achievements of its students. Six of those students – Hady Omar, Shawn Sandhu, Noah Sanker, Kaitlyn Sears, Moaid Shaik, and Mustafa Syed – presented their Religious Studies research during the event, which took place April 5.

A man with a beard looks at a stained-glass window that has sunlight shining through it.

Faculty / Faculty / News / Religious Studies / Research / U.S. Impact

Ask the Expert: How Is Spirituality Expanding Beyond Religion?

April 22, 2024

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…

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Event / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Religious Studies

Religious Studies Professor to Deliver Keynote Address at MLK Community Unity Dinner

January 11, 2024

Blaire Morseau, Assistant Professor in MSU’s Department of Religious Studies and an inaugural 1855 Professor, is the keynote speaker for the 44th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Unity Dinner. This MLK Commemorative Celebration event, organized by MSU’s Residence Education and Housing Services, is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 16, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Kellogg Hotel and…

A photo composite of two people, a woman on the left and a man on the right.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Event / Faculty / News / Religious Studies

MSU Honors Inaugural 1855 Professorship Recipients

December 18, 2023

The inaugural roster of 1855 Professorship recipients, along with MSU administrators, Board of Trustees members, faculty, and guests, recently gathered for dinner in the Michigan State University Club Fireplace Room in celebration of this first cohort of Spartan professors who are dedicated to advancing Michigan State University’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) objectives. Included in this first cohort of 1855…

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Religious Studies / Research / Scholarship

1855 Professor: Researching and Teaching Native American Environmental Ethics

November 17, 2023

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…

Faculty / Faculty / News / Religious Studies

New Black Religion Courses Enhance Religious Studies Curriculum

November 13, 2023

From the days of slavery to the Black Lives Matter movement, religion has played an essential role in the lives of Black Americans. However, that role is often misunderstood or viewed through stereotypes of submissive slaves bowing their heads in prayer and acceptance of their fate. In reality, Black religion has evolved as a means of protest and power. The…

Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Religious Studies / Research

Religious Studies Professor Returns to Her Native Community for 1855 Professorship

November 10, 2023

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…

Faculty / News / Publication / Publishing, Editing, and Authorship / Religious Studies / Research / Scholarship

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

November 6, 2023

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…

News / Programs / Religious Studies / Student

New Graduate Program Welcomes First Cohort

September 26, 2023

With the start of the 2023-2024 academic year at Michigan State University, the new Nonprofit Leadership, Global Cultures, and Social Enterprise M.A. and Graduate Certificate Programs are welcoming their first cohort of graduate students. Five students are enrolled in the master’s degree program, while three students are in the graduate certificate program. Both programs are fully online and asynchronous. According…