MSU Alumnus, U.S. Army Veteran Channels Artistry as Mental Health Intern

Greg Fricker wanted to go to art school but joined the U.S. Army when his father insisted. His dad was career military and said that no one ever made a living as an artist. With his aspirations redirected, Fricker enlisted straight out of high school and served for 20 years until multiple traumas thrust him back into civilian life.

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Black Feminisms Scholar and Educator Joins AAAS as an Academic Specialist

Dr. Yvonne Morris joined MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) on September 29, 2021, as an Academic Specialist and says she’s “ready to put Black feminisms and Black women’s knowledge, work, and brilliance at the forefront, not as an act of resistance or response to crisis, but because it is worthy and necessary to exist and just…

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Scholar-Educator, Writer, and Performer Joins AAAS as an Academic Specialist

Among the first generation on her mother’s side born outside the Jim Crow South and the first generation on her father’s side born outside Ghana, West Africa, Dr. Chamara Jewel Kwakye’s family, on both sides, have always placed education as paramount, and not just any kind of education, but rather an education that clearly connects to the freedom of the…

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Scholar, Performer, Educator Joins AAAS Faculty

A scholar, performer, and educator, Gianina K. Lockley joined MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) on August 16, 2021, as a Research Associate whose work is situated at the intersection of critical race theory, ethnography, storytelling, theatre, dance, and performance studies with a focus on the study of race, class, gender, and sexuality within both staged performances and the performative practices of every day.

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Poet, Educator, and Public Health Change Agent Joins AAAS Department

A community-accountable scholar, educator, and poet, LeConté Dill joined MSU’s Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) on September 16, 2021, as an Associate Professor of Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies.  She has a commitment toward transdisciplinary research and is guided by Black Feminist epistemologies to listen to and show up for Black girls and other youth of color. Dr. Dill was born…

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Spanish Major Uses Her Language Skills While Interning Remotely

Waking up to text messages from a supervisor in Spain with a six-hour time difference became part of Kaitlyn Wehner’s daily routine this past summer as an intern for Youlosophy, which produces self-help booklets from its headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. Wehner, a Spanish senior, worked remotely for Youlosophy after applying with the Global Remote Internship Program through the College of…

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Afrofantastic: Seeing the Impact of Black Speculation and Liberation in American Culture

What is Afrofuturism and why does it matter to our contemporary moment? In this presentation, Julian Chambliss, Professor of English, Core Faculty in the Consortium For Critical Diversity in Digital Age Research (CEDAR), and Val Berryman Curator of History at the MSU Museum, explores the manifestation of Black speculative practice.

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