Patrick Kelley received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from MSU in May 2018 and currently works at Amazon as a language engineer, where he works with technologies to improve Amazon’s Alexa, a form of artificial intelligence. Could you give a basic job description of your position at Amazon? I am a language engineer at Amazon, where my day-to-day changes almost every…
Jenna Light, a second-year MFA in Theatre Design candidate, won the United States Institute for Theatre Technology’s (USITT) Midwest Region Digital Design competition for her costume designs in MSU’s 2018 production, Dog Act. “Winning the USITT Midwest Regional student design competition was a complete surprise and an incredible honor,” Light said. “It means so much to me to have my work…
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle has endeared itself in the hearts of readers for generations. Using Tracy Young’s truthful and supremely theatrical adaptation, MSU’s Department of Theatre takes impossible feats of fiction and brings them to life in bold, imaginative, and thrilling fashion in this theatrical version of the classic novel. The story thrusts three children into peril beyond their years…
Frankie Potochick, a senior Studio Art major, received the “Most Inspiring” award at the Second Annual Social Justice Art Festival for her painting, Innocence Lost, which focuses on the issue of gun violence in America. Potochick’s painting depicts an anatomically accurate heart covered in newsprint that reads the names of children ages 1 to 18 who passed away in early 2018…
Benjamin Lauren, Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC), is working to help reduce the social stigma associated with homelessness and, drawing from his research on project management and leadership, helping to establish a network of MSU faculty, staff, and students interested in making MSU a basic needs secure institution. Lauren is collaborating with Laurel Burchfield…
During the second annual Java & Jam networking event, hosted by the College of Arts & Letters’ Excel Network, three students received cash prizes for their outstanding creative resumes. Winners of the Creative Resume Competition, funded by Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), were announced by Dean Christopher P. Long and include: First place, $1,500 prize – Sean Vichinsky, senior Professional…
The newest episode of the Liberal Arts Endeavor Podcast, titled Diaspora and Decolonial Love, is out! Our host, Dean Christopher P. Long, spoke with Yomaira Figueroa, Assistant Professor of English and Global Diaspora Studies, about her research regarding 20th century U.S. Latinx Caribbean, Afro-Latinx, and Afro-Diasporic literature and culture and her current book project, Decolonizing Diasporas: Radical Mappings of Afro-Atlantic Literature. Figueroa also discusses the Womxn of Color…
Six Graphic Design students, all seniors, received 2019 Mid-Michigan American Advertising (ADDY) Awards, including one Gold, three Silver, and one Bronze, honoring their outstanding work on five separate projects. While in the professional competition, MSU’s College of Arts & Letters won a Silver ADDY for its microsite, Resilience: The 2018 Dean’s Report. Hosted by the Mid-Michigan Creative Alliance, the local American Advertising Federation…
As the winner of the bi-annual Spartan Fashion Design Collection Competition, Apparel and Textile Design senior Noel Thomas earned an all-expense-paid trip to the Spring New York Fashion Week (NYFW), a top event in the fashion industry that takes place twice a year in New York City. This is the first time Michigan State University has participated in the competition…
Mehrdad Sedaghat, who will graduate in May with an MFA in Graphic Design, was named one of the “2019 Students to Watch” by GDUSA (Graphic Design USA) magazine. The list includes the top 80 undergraduate, graduate, or continuing education students from across the country who are ready to burst on to the design scene and who have found personal and professional growth through…