@kdbrooks

The Beaumont Tower, clock tower, on the campus of Michigan State University is in the background. Over the image is a green filter and text that says: “Top 25 English Doctoral Program in U.S. for Minority Enrollment” and a Spartan helmet is below that text. Additional small text at the bottom of the graphic says: “Source: Diverse Issues in Higher Education | Top 100 Degree Producers: 2022-2023.”

MSU English Doctoral Program Ranks in Top 25 Nationally for Minority Student Enrollment

November 20, 2024

Diverse: Issues in Higher Education ranked Michigan State University’s English Doctoral Research Program in the Top 25 nationally for total minority student enrollment (No. 22) and all-races combined enrollment (No. 23) in 2022-2023 as part of its Top 100 Degree Producers ranking. “The discipline of English as a whole is enriched when our graduate student cohort reflects a vital diversity…

Portrait of a woman wearing glasses, a purple dress, and a colorful necklace.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / English / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Research / U.S. Impact

Ask the Expert: How Does Black Horror Help Us Understand Cultural Anxieties?

October 23, 2023

The genre of horror, and specifically Black horror, has been gaining attention in mainstream media in the last decade. Films by Black writers and directors featuring Black actors — think “ Us” and “Get Out” by writer and director Jordan Peele — are exploring themes of race and gender through a different lens while opening larger dialogues about belonging and…

Scholar Stanford W. Carpenter sits in a chair in front of a suspended microphone and camera held by another man. In the background is a display of stained-glass windows as part of a museum exhibit.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / English / Faculty / News / Production / Programs / U.S. Impact

‘Afrofantastic:’ Science Fiction, Technology, Black Culture Explored in New Documentary by MSU Professors

June 9, 2023

Afrofuturism has entered more mainstream conversations in the last decade thanks to its influence on fashion and art, notably in the music of Janelle Monae and in the film “Black Panther.” However, the idea of Afrofuturism, which often combines science fiction, technology, and a Black understanding of liberty, expands beyond pop culture into practice and social action. To help answer…

Event / Faculty / News / Research

MSU: A Leader in Comics and Pop Culture Scholarship, Now Host to Comics Studies Society

July 27, 2022

This week, Michigan State University will host the fifth annual conference for the Comic Studies Society, one of the premier academic communities dedicated to comic studies. What makes MSU the perfect place for this conference, besides the fact that it is home to the largest publicly accessible comic book collection in the world, is the research being done here that…

two men shaking hands in the middle of classroom

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / News / Programs

Integrative Arts and Humanities (IAH) Offers New and Innovative Courses

November 20, 2020

Delivering general education curriculum in the arts and humanities requires some ingenuity to put the human experience into context. Faculty and instructors who teach in MSU’s Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH) in the College of Arts & Letters continually meet this challenge by taking innovative approaches to teaching essential subjects. “The way we teach the…

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / News / Publication / Research

Examining the Power of Pop Culture to Shape Perception, Issues, and Trends

July 2, 2020

Kinitra Brooks grew up connecting ideas, asking questions, and demanding the freedom to do so. Today, the Associate Professor in MSU’s Department of English continues to push boundaries through her study of Black women, genre fiction, popular culture, and the work of conjure women as intellectual history. “Basically, I teach and research Black women creating weird stuff,” Brooks said. “That includes Black women…

Faculty / News / Podcast / Publication

LAE Podcast Hosts Associate Professor Kinitra Brooks

May 5, 2020

Episode seven of the Liberal Arts Endeavor Podcast is out! Our host, Dean Christopher P. Long, met with Kinitra Brooks, Department of English Associate Professor and Leslie Endowed Chair in Literary Studies, to talk about her digital presence and work as a scholar of genre fiction, pop culture, and Black women. Brooks specializes in the study of Black women, genre fiction, and popular…

brick building with a blue sky surrounded by trees

Faculty / News / Staff

College Welcomes 30 New Faculty and Staff Members

August 30, 2018

This year, the College of Arts & Letters welcomes 30 new faculty and staff members. They include the following: Qais Assali Qais Assali, Visiting Assistant Professor and Artist-in-Residence, Department of Art, Art History, and Design, is a visual artist and educator. His work has been internationally exhibited including at Jeune création, Paris (2016); Tiradentes, Brazil (2016); The Overlook Place, Chicago (2018);…