This year’s College of Arts & Letters staff appreciation event, which is held each year to recognize the dedication, outstanding service, and exceptional work of the College’s staff members, was held virtually via Microsoft Teams on June 5. The highlight of this online event was the presentation of the group and individual awards. Those awards and the 2020 winners include:…
Anger,” Audre Lorde¹ insists, “is an appropriate reaction to racist attitudes, as is fury when the actions arising from those attitudes do not change.” The racist killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery in the wake of more than 400 years of anti-Black violence are infuriating. We must demonstrate solidarity through actions that support our African American colleagues who are directly impacted by the realities of racism. Our actions must be oriented toward systemic change.
In 2018, the Huffington Post described intimacy directing as “an emerging field in which a small group of professionals are pushing to develop standards and procedures for scenes involving physical intimacy in the wake of a public reckoning with sexual misconduct throughout the entertainment industry.” That same year, Michigan State University's Department of Theatre hired Alexis Black as Assistant Professor of Acting and Movement, in part,…
At the beginning of the Spring 2020 semester, Musical Theatre students in MSU’s Department of Theatre expected to finish the academic year with some intense scene work that would bring together every element of what they had learned. When the university switched to remote learning for the remainder of the semester, the direction of the course began an organic shift, born out…
Stephen Di Benedetto has been selected as the next Chairperson of the Department of Theatre at Michigan State University, effective July 15, 2020. “I am thrilled to join the Department of Theatre alongside such a wide array of talented artists working at the forefront of our field,” he said. “It is exhilarating to be a part of such a cohesive team charting…
Alumna Julia Domínguez, who earned her M.A. in Hispanic Studies from MSU in 2000, received this year’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award College/University Level from the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP). An exemplary scholar-teacher, Domínguez is an Associate Professor of Spanish at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. “I have dedicated my life to educating…
The field of theatre has long been one that favors the extrovert with a perception that actors must be outgoing, gregarious, and boisterous to find success. A new book seeks to alter that perception. Co-written by Rob Roznowski, Head of Acting and Directing for the MSU Department of Theatre, The Introverted Actor: Practical Approaches offers first-hand accounts, methods, and tested techniques that will…
Kate Snyder, who as a junior at MSU told her academic advisor that she wanted to plan parties at The Met, is now the Owner and Principal Strategist of her own award-winning public relations agency, Piper & Gold. So just how did she transition from a desire to be a party-planner in New York City to owning her own successful mid-Michigan-based…
The three winners of the CAL Virtual Career Readiness Roadmap Competition recently were announced and received prizes, ranging from $500 to $1,200. Facilitated by the Excel Network as part of the MSUFCU Dean’s Choice Grant, the competition was open to MSU students with a major in the College of Arts & Letters and required them to complete various career readiness-related tasks according to…
As the 2020 Spring semester has come to a close, we want to thank you for the hard work required to shift to remote teaching, and also to acknowledge the myriad of other disruptions to your personal and professional lives during this unprecedented pandemic. We write today with a message of reassurance.