Alexander Gamelin began his time at MSU after competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics. In the same impressive fashion, he now finishes his undergraduate career with a 4.0 GPA. A Linguistics major, Gamelin started ice skating with his twin sister when they were 7 years old and has competed all over the world in countries like Austria, Belarus, Canada, Estonia,…
Marta Tienda grew up poor in the inner ring suburbs of Detroit. Her mother died when she was 6, but her father assured her life would be better if she worked hard and finished high school. Tienda listened to her father, an immigrant from Mexico who raised five children in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Alternating between jobs as a factory…
The College of Arts & Letters is saddened by the passing of James E. Fagan, Professor Emeritus of Studio Art, who died on December 7, 2020. He was 90 years old. A member of the Department of Art, Art History, and Design faculty at Michigan State University for 51 years, Fagan completed his Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Illinois…
Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre has produced a new sensory-friendly musical for children who are neurodiverse and will begin offering free virtual performances this month. Written by students and faculty at Michigan State University, Soda Pop Shop! is an interactive musical that invites audience members to relate to the experiences of the characters in the show and help them cope with their feelings as…
Spanish and Religious Studies double major Andrew Keller is this semester’s only graduate of the College of Arts & Letters’ Citizen Scholars program. And while he was unable to study abroad as he originally planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was able to help an organization that has helped him by donating his Citizen Scholars funding to them.
Marissa Rubaiai, a junior double major in Studio Art and Media and Information with a minor in Comics and Graphic Novels, received CREATE! Micro-Grant funding to support her Rope of Emotion project, which is influenced by the multitude of emotions experienced by so many as a result of the death, loss, isolation, and grief caused by COVID-19. Rope of Emotion took two months…
Shawn Loewen knows what it’s like to learn a second language through “blood, sweat, and tears.” He started taking private Spanish lessons when he was 13 and studied Spanish and French all through high school. Passionate about language learning, he majored in Language and Linguistics in college and decided to become a teacher and research scholar. Today, Loewen is a…
The CREATE! Micro-Grant Program supported the launch of 12 student projects that analyze and respond to racial injustice and the struggles brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These projects, ranging from interpretive dance and musical performances to traditional Anishinaabe quill work, videos, podcasts, personal essays, and poetry, can now be viewed online through the CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit.
Jon Frey first encountered archaeology at the site of Isthmia in Greece in 1993 as a study abroad student. He has since returned almost every year to the same ancient excavation. Now a classical archaeologist and Associate Professor of Classical Studies in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at MSU, Frey will oversee the dig near Corinth, Greece,…
College of Arts & Letters alumna Grace Vivanco is helping lead the fight against COVID-19 at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit as one of the nurses working in the hospital’s COVID unit. For Vivanco, who graduated from MSU in 2017 with a BA in Spanish and then earned her BSN from Oakland University’s accelerated nursing program, there is no…