@yareslau

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Ask the Expert: How Americans Are Learning About Judaism and Religion Through Art and Culture

September 29, 2026

A growing number of Americans are religiously unaffiliated, according to the Pew Research Center, but those broader shifts don’t necessarily mean Americans’ religious lives are disappearing. To understand what religion looks like in 21st-century America, scholars like Michigan State University Associate Professor Laura Yares are asking different questions. Yares co-authored the recent book “Judaism Mediated: Learning About Jewishness through the…

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Community Outreach / English / Faculty / Faculty / Lansing-East Lansing Impact / Michigan Impact / News / Programs / Religious Studies

MSU Fellowship Helps Michigan Teachers Rethink Genocide Education

August 19, 2026

As artificial intelligence and social media reshape how students evaluate information, teaching about genocide and mass atrocities has grown more complex. Teachers in Michigan are required to spend at least six hours on genocide curriculum during grades 8-12. They must navigate not only changing technology but also shifting geopolitical events and a generation of students who see the world differently…

Two performers stand on a stage amid dramatic lighting while a large projection behind them displays text comparing artificial intelligence and human learning. The digital backdrop reads, "AI learns through mathematical pattern recognition and optimization of large datasets, while human learning is a biological process shaped by emotions and consciousness."

Michigan Impact / News

Arts and Humanities in Action: How MSU’s College of Arts and Letters Is Shaping Michigan’s Future

August 4, 2026

The impact of Michigan State University's College of Arts and Letters extends far beyond campus. Across Michigan, students, faculty, and alumni are putting the arts and humanities to work through education, language access, accessibility, public engagement, and creative partnerships that preserve cultural heritage, expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and prepare the next generation of leaders. "The arts, culture, and humanities enrich…

A grid of four headshots of the 2025-2026 Fintz Award recipients. Top left: Laura Yares, smiling, with shoulder-length brown hair and blue earrings, against a yellow background. Top right: Jonathan Choti, smiling, with a navy blazer. Bottom left: Nerli Paredes Ruvalcaba, smiling, with long pink-tinted hair. Bottom right: Aaron Schultz, smiling, with a beard and glasses

Award / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Linguistics / News / Philosophy / Religious Studies

Four MSU Faculty Honored with Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence

April 20, 2026

Four College of Arts & Letters faculty have been selected as this year’s recipients of the Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities in recognition of their exemplary Integrative Arts and Humanities (IAH) instruction. Presented each spring by the Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities (CISAH), the Fintz Award, which is student nominated, recognizes outstanding faculty who engage students in arts and humanities ways of knowing while helping them develop critical thinking and effective communication skills.

Michigan Impact / News / Programs

MSU Fellowship Empowers Michigan Teachers to Reimagine Genocide Curriculum for Today’s Learners

March 23, 2026

At a time when students are encountering discussions of genocide not only in history books but as it unfolds in real time across social media and global news, a program offered through Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters is helping secondary education teachers across Michigan respond to the growing challenge of teaching about this fraught topic in a…

A group of nine College of Arts & Letters faculty members standing in two rows, smiling and posing for a group photo. They are dressed in business professional attire, including dark blazers, a teal jacket, dress shirts with ties, and a cream blouse. They stand on a patterned rug in a well-lit indoor lounge area featuring an orange seating bench, a wood-slatted ceiling, and warm pendant lighting. In the blurred foreground, the hands of a person holding a smartphone are visible, capturing the picture of the group.

AAHD / Art, Art History, and Design / English / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Linguistics / News / Philosophy / Religious Studies / Spanish / Theatre

MSU Celebrates Promoted Faculty, Honoring 29 from the College of Arts & Letters

February 14, 2026

During the 2025-2026 academic year, 24 faculty members within the College of Arts & Letters received promotions. The success of these individuals was celebrated at special ceremonies hosted by the Office of the Provost. “On behalf of the College of Arts & Letters, I want to congratulate our faculty members who have earned promotions this year,” said Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters.

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News / Religious Studies

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…

English / Event / Faculty / Faculty / Faculty Stories / Lecture Series / News / Religious Studies / Research / Scholarship

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…