When Austin Oting Har joined Michigan State University in Fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, now School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities (RCAH), one of his first goals was to launch a record label. But rather than building it on his own, he included students in the process from the…
Translation is about more than converting words from one language to another. It requires cultural understanding, empathy, and an ability to connect people with information that matters. At Michigan State University, students in the College of Arts & Letters are developing those skills through a partnership that pairs hands-on translation experience with meaningful community engagement. Through this partnership between the…
For a recent theatre production presented by members of the Department of Theatre at Michigan State University, audience members became part of the performance, one that transformed a healthcare simulation center into a deeply intimate, immersive theatrical experience that blurred the line between actors and audience. This production of "Mary Jane" was not confined to the stage, nor was the audience confined to their seats.
Michigan State University student Roberto “Marcos” Garcia received the nationally competitive Beinecke Scholarship, becoming the sixth MSU student to receive this prestigious award. He was one of only 16 recipients selected from 93 nominees nationwide. The scholarship provides graduate school funding for students intending to pursue research-focused graduate study in the arts, humanities, or social sciences and is valued at $35,000.
This year's Varg-Sullivan Endowed Graduate Award winners are Niloufar Fallahfar, a Spring 2026 MFA in Studio Art graduate, who is the 2026 Outstanding Achievement in the Arts recipient, and Jonah Branding, a graduate student pursuing a dual Ph.D. in Philosophy and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, was named the 2026 Outstanding Achievement in Letters recipient. The Varg-Sullivan Endowed Graduate Awards, presented…
Two new microgalleries from Michigan State University’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design (AAHD) will be featured at the 2026 East Lansing Art Festival on May 16 and 17, completing a three-part public art project designed and created by MSU students during the 2025-2026 academic year. The two new microgalleries are freestanding, mobile galleries designed to move between multiple sites and events. They will join the Honeycomb…
Yeroham Ashagre is the 2026 Master of Fine Arts (MFA) Prize recipient, capping three years of intensive study as an MFA student in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at Michigan State University. Ashagre received the MFA Prize for his thesis exhibition, “Womb of Tomb,” that is part of the 2026 MFA Exhibition on view at the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum through May 17, 2026.
For Vadu Rodrigues, there is no separating art from activism. Growing up in Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, he uses his art — and the Positive Africa creative movement he founded — to challenge negative stereotypes about the continent and its people by highlighting its history, culture, and communities.
Eight students whose primary majors are in the College of Art & Letters received first-place awards for their research and creative scholarship presented at Michigan State University’s 28th annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF). Several other MSU students who received first-place awards were mentored by faculty within the College of Arts & Letters.
Niloufar Fallahfar’s paintings are not confined to the canvas. As her artistic practice has evolved, her work quite literally has expanded into space through the inclusion of three-dimensional objects that become part of the narrative itself. “I started by putting canvas on top of each other to offer a different perspective and make the audience curious about the different angles of the painting,” she explained.