Citizen Scholar Carla Simone experienced a different culture while teaching English to students in first through seventh grade at Colegio Norbridge in Buenos Aires, Argentina, as part of a two-month summer internship. “The program in Argentina made me learn things about myself that I did not previously know,” Simone said. “I learned how to adapt to any situation, to be…
Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre is presenting a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s classic gothic horror novel, Frankenstein. Through the use of some creative casting, the production examines the themes of gender norms and the plight of humanity at the hands of a thoughtless creator. The new adaptation, developed in 2018 by Southwest Shakespeare Company co-Producing Artistic Director Quinn Mattfeld, more closely follows the original…
MSU’s Second Language Studies (SLS) Program welcomed scholars from around the world to present their research at the 42nd annual Second Language Research Forum (SLRF) September 20-22. One of the four plenary speakers at the forum was Luke Plonsky, who received his Ph.D. in Second Language Studies from MSU in 2011 and who organized MSU’s previous SLRF in 2009. “It…
On September 26, 2019, I had the opportunity to address the Michigan State University President’s Council, which includes the Deans Council and the Executive Leadership of the University, about the values-based strategic planning process we have undertaken in the College of Arts & Letters...
Aline Godfroid, Associate Professor of Second Language Studies and TESOL, is being recognized for her outstanding research in the area of second language acquisition and recently was elected to the Executive Committee of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA) and will serve as Secretary of that committee. A leading scholar in the use of eye-tracking, Godfroid was named the 2019 recipient of the TESOL Award for Distinguished Research for her study, “Incidental vocabulary learning…
The College of Arts & Letters has a new endowed faculty position thanks to the generosity of MSU alumna and former Ohio State Senator Karen Gillmor, who has been giving back to Michigan State University for the past decade. The Karen L. Gillmor, Ph.D. Endowed Professorship in Professional and Public Writing, created in Gillmor’s name, will help recruit and retain…
Professor Justus Nieland has been named Chair of the Department of English, effective October 1, 2019. Dr. Nieland joined the Department of English as an Assistant Professor in 2002. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2008 and to full Professor in 2014. During his 17 years with the department, Nieland has been actively involved in its research, teaching, service,…
For 70 years, Arabic was an official language of Israel. That changed last year with the passing of the Nation-State Bill, which became law on July 19, 2018, designating Hebrew as Israel’s only official language. How and why this decision came to be is the focus of a current study by Camelia Suleiman, Associate Professor of Arabic Studies, who was…
As one experience begins another is about to end – Grace Beltowski, a senior Professional Writing major, and Rachel Beltowski, a freshman Film Studies major, are two sisters in the College of Arts & Letters’ Citizen Scholars program. Grace will graduate from MSU and the Citizen Scholars program in May 2020, while Rachel is just beginning her journey with the…
Second Language Studies Ph.D. student Xiaowan Zhang expanded upon her research surrounding language test impacts as an intern at the Michigan English Assessment in Ann Arbor this past summer. While working at the Michigan English Assessment, Zhang’s main task was to develop a toolkit for investigating the impact of the Michigan English Test (MET) and its sister test for young…