CREATE! Micro-Grant Project Focuses on Mental Illness in Young Adults

Concerned about the social struggles young adults face today, Kayla Wikaryasz, a senior Interdisciplinary Humanities major with a minor in Creative Writing, is producing a short story that focuses on mental illness and the creative industry. Wikaryasz’s story was among the 13 proposed projects awarded a 2023 CREATE! Micro-Grant, with each winning proposal receiving $500.

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MSU Theatre Presents ‘UnScripted’ Improv Comedy 

Michigan State University’s Department of Theatre will feature the largest cast in the history of the department's first-year student showcase when MSU Unscripted takes the Studio 60 Theatre stage in the MSU Auditorium building Nov. 30-Dec. 3. This year's MSU Unscripted cast includes 30 first-year Theatre students, the most ever for the first-year showcase, which began 17 years ago. Team…

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Making a Case for STEAM Over STEM with New Musical Production

A new musical by Department of Theatre Professor Rob Roznowski explores the relationship between the arts and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), focusing on how important creativity and artistic expression are to innovation in STEM fields.The STEAM Plays: Using the Arts to Talk About STEM makes the case for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) over STEM education…

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1855 Professor: Researching and Teaching Native American Environmental Ethics

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…

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Grant Supports International Community Engaged Partnership

Jonathan Choti, Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures (LiLaC), received Michigan State University’s 2023-2024 Creating Inclusive Excellence Grant (CIEG) of $12,000 to further his community engagement work in Tanzania.Choti and his Tanzanian collaborator, Jonathan Kivuyo of the University of Dar es Salaam, will use the funding to fight food insecurity in Naitolia Village in Northern Tanzania.…

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Linguistics Major Interns with Clinical Applications of Speech Acoustics Lab

Sara Cook, a senior with a double major in Linguistics and Communicative Sciences and Disorders, interned with the Clinical Applications of Speech Acoustics (CASA) Lab at Michigan State University, which is led by Thea Knowles, Assistant Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders. Cook recently shared her experiences with this internship in the following Q&A that originally was…

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Alum Reunites with Mentor Who Helped Kickstart Her Career

In Spring 2020, Shelby Eppich became one of the first two people to graduate from Michigan State University with a BFA in Stage Management, a program founded in 2017 by Tina M. Newhauser, Head of the Department of Theatre’s Stage Management Program at MSU.Now, three years after earning her degree, Eppich works as the Artist Relations and Special Projects Manager…

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New Black Religion Courses Enhance Religious Studies Curriculum

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…

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Religious Studies Professor Returns to Her Native Community for 1855 Professorship

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…

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Mina Loy’s Trailblazing Feminism Takes Center Stage in World Premiere at MSU

A team of interdisciplinary artists will present a cross-institutional staging of the feminist futuristic poetic dramas of Mina Loy on Thursday, Dec. 7, and Friday, Dec. 8, at the MSU Broad Art Museum and at the University of Michigan-Flint North Bank Dance Studio, respectively. This world premiere is free and open to the public.   Mina Loy dressed for the Blindman’s Ball at Webster…

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