@yareslau

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MSU Launches New Major in Nonprofit Leadership, Religion, and Social Change

September 10, 2025

The Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University has a new undergraduate major designed to meet the growing demand for ethical, culturally competent leaders in the expanding nonprofit, philanthropic, and service sectors. The Nonprofit Leadership, Religion, and Social Change major, launched Fall 2025, blends academic study, experiential learning, community engagement, and applied research to provide students with a strong…

Lecture Series Showcases Strong Connection Between Religious Studies and MSU Libraries’ Special Collections

January 29, 2025

Religious Studies faculty will discuss how the MSU Libraries' Special Collections informs their teaching and research as part of the Collecting Religion Lecture Series offered this semester. Hosted by MSU Libraries and organized in collaboration with the Department of Religious Studies, the series will highlight how rare and historical primary sources bring Religious Studies to life. The series kicks off…

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Faculty / Grant / News

Several College of Arts & Letters Projects Supported by HARP Grants

December 13, 2023

Twelve College of Arts & Letters faculty members currently are working on projects supported by 2023 Humanities and Arts Research Program (HARP) Grants. The projects range from mixed media artwork and theatrical productions to the publication of books on a variety of topics including South African quilts and textiles, German migration history, and color cinema. Six of the faculty members…

Faculty / News / Publication / Publishing, Editing, and Authorship / Religious Studies / Research / Scholarship / U.S. Impact

Research Shines New Light on Role of Women in Founding Jewish American Education

November 6, 2023

Laura Yares has spent “years sitting in archives” researching a period of Jewish American education that historians have largely overlooked as insignificant, a period in which very little had been written about up until the release of Yares’ recently published book, Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America. An Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies with a…

Faculty / Faculty / Grant / News / Research / U.S. Impact

NEH Grant to Develop Open-Source Code for Self-Recording Mobile App

February 14, 2022

College of Arts & Letters’ Assistant Professor of Linguistics Betsy Sneller was awarded a $99,908 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Digital Humanities Advancement Grant (DHAG) program for her project, “Building and Disseminating an App for Ethnographic Remote Audio Recording,” that will develop an open-source code to create a self-recording mobile app, which will be critical 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…

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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);…