News – Page 87 – College of Arts & Letters

Alumnus Begins New Role at Virginia Symphony

April 13, 2020

Sal Parillo, M.A. Arts and Cultural Management 2018, recently started a new job as the Operations Manager of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary Season in 2020-2021. As the Operations Manager, Parillo is responsible for overseeing the Virginia Symphony’s production crew, coordinating guest artists’ travel and housing, making sure venues are scheduled, and distributing the annual performance…

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Programs

Yen-Hwei Lin Appointed Chair of LingLang Department

April 9, 2020

After more than a year serving as Acting Interim Chair and then Interim Chair of the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, Yen-Hwei Lin has been appointed Chair of the Department. This four-year appointment is effective August 16, 2020, through August 15, 2024. A Professor of Linguistics, Lin served as Acting Interim Chair (November 5, 2018-2019) and…

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Internship / News / Student

Graduating Senior Gains Experience in Film Industry with Mocean Internship

April 9, 2020

Senior Film Studies major and Evans Scholar Olivia York is graduating this May with an impressive internship on her resume from Mocean, which produces trailers for unreleased movies and television shows and whose clients include Disney, Marvel, Fox, Warner Bros., Netflix, FX, and CNN. York’s internship had her writing scripts for potential trailers from Mocean’s Santa Monica, California, location. First…

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Alumni / COVID-19 / Featured Alumni / News

MSU English Alumnus Directs Communications for Michigan Governor

April 8, 2020

For Zack Pohl, it was inevitable he would attend Michigan State University. What wasn’t inevitable was him overseeing communications at the highest level of state government during the worst public health crisis in 100 years. A 2006 graduate of Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters, Pohl is the Communications Director for Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a position he’s held since January 2019…

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Faculty / News / Podcast

LAE Podcast Hosts Assistant Professor Christina Boyles

April 7, 2020

Episode five of the Liberal Arts Endeavor Podcast is now live! Our host, Christopher P. Long, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters, met with Christina Boyles, Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities, to discuss her work on the Maria Memory Bank Project.Boyles' research explores the relationship between disaster, social justice, and the environment. She is the Director of the Maria Memory Bank,…

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Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Research

Researching the Effectiveness of Language Learning Apps

April 7, 2020

Shawn Loewen became enamored with languages at age 13 when his parents hired a private tutor to teach him Spanish. Despite his passion for being multilingual, he knew he couldn’t make a living as a professional language learner. But he knew he could teach. A Professor of Second Language Studies, Loewen came to Michigan State University in 2005 to join the…

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COVID-19 / Event / News / Performance

MSU’s Summer Circle Theatre Season Postponed, Online Activities Offered

April 6, 2020

The Michigan State University Department of Theatre’s 2020 Summer Circle Theatre (SCT) season has been postponed. The entire season will move to June 2021, but the Department of Theatre will offer some online activities for all to enjoy remotely this summer. This decision comes as a result of the announcement made by MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., to continue virtual-only courses for…

COVID-19 / Health / News

How Religions Around the World Are Keeping the Faith During COVID-19

April 6, 2020

COVID-19 has rocked everyday life for people around the world, requiring religious communities to shift worship at a time that many consider the most holiest of the year. Daily and weekly services at churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples have transitioned to take place in the home with family members as many places of prayer are closed for the first time…

COVID-19 / Long View Blog

Imagining a Resilient Pedagogy

April 6, 2020

The sudden shift to remote teaching and learning in higher education and, in many states, in K-12 schools too, seems likely to be a watershed moment. It calls for us to invent an approach to learning that is more resistant to disruption, more resilient...

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News / Student

Graduating Senior Founds Business to Support Marginalized Gender Playwrights

April 3, 2020

Taylor McPhail, a senior Theatre major, recently started her own business, By/For Publishing, which digitally publishes plays written by playwrights of marginalized genders, work that is far less often produced, and then licenses those plays to educational and community theaters across the United States. Playwrights submit their work to the company via email, which McPhail then reviews and publishes based…