Julez DeShetler, a senior double majoring in Journalism and Digital Media Production, has been admitted to the 2025 Dow Jones News Fund Internship program. She will manage audience engagement for Investigate Midwest, an award-winning, nonprofit, and independent newsroom this summer.

Julez is the second EMU student who has won the prestigious internship opportunity with DJNF in the last decade. She started her journalism career on her high school’s radio station, Blue Devil Radio. At EMU, she joined The Eastern Echo as a news reporter and podcast host in 2023 and moved up to Digital Editor in 2024, managing all social media platforms and video content.

Julez expects to graduate in April and will head straight to DJNF’s training at Temple University in Philadelphia in May. She will join the audience engagement team at Investigate Midwest to boost the social media presence, maintain the website, and produce newsletters from June to August.

DJNF is a national internship program of excellence dating back to 1960. Each year DJNF recruits about 100 college students across the country and provides them with advanced hands- on training, industry mentors, and a robust peer and alumni network. Interns attend one-week training programs before reporting to work in paid internships at top media companies for 10 to 12 weeks. Weekly salaries start at $525. Interns who are enrolled full-time or graduates with federal loans are eligible for $1,500 scholarships. The application is usually due in November. See more information here.

If you have any questions about the DJNF internship or other internship programs, please direct inquiries to Dr. You Li, advisor of the journalism and media studies program, via yli23@emich.edu.

Junior Honors student Trinity Perkins, a Criminology and Criminal Justice major, was awarded a $12,500 Ford Motor Company John Dingell Fellowship to attend The Washington Center program in summer 2025. 

The Dingell Fellows and Scholars program allows students from Southeast Michigan to come to D.C. and have a front seat view and experience their government in action. As a Dingell Fellow, Trinity will have her program and housing fees covered while she pursues an internship in criminal justice or public policy. Trinity is the first student from Eastern Michigan University to win this award, which honors the legacy and leadership of Congressman Dingell.

School of Art and Design Graphic Design students Yatziry Linares-Lozano and Tia Haugabook have been selected to participate in an Artistry Bootcamp and Showcase for women artists/designers of color. This opportunity, which is sponsored by Jewish Family Services, includes a three-day business bootcamp in partnership with Google, Comerica Bank, and Ann Arbor Area Community Fund, focusing on branding, crowdfunding, and entrepreneurship (March 4–6, 2025 held at JFS and run by Comerica Bank). It also includes a $2,000 grant for each participant, and an Artistry Showcase Event (March 23, 2025, 4:00–6:00 PM) at Eastern Michigan University Grand Ballroom. The events offer participants a chance to display their talent to the public and expand their networks.

Honors undergraduate students and Political Science majors Naomi Barbour and Makaiya Snead received a $4000 grant from EMU Women in Philanthropy for their project entitled, "From Artifacts to Action: A Community Engagement Initiative Centering Black History." 

The grant brought Dr. Khalid el-Hakim and the Black History 101 Mobile Museum he curates to EMU as part of the MLK Celebration. The Black History 101 Mobile Museum is a renowned repository of over 10,000 original artifacts, spanning the painful era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the vibrant culture of hip hop."

Three seniors from the Honors College and the College of Arts and Sciences have been named semi-finalists for an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Award from the U.S. Fulbright Program. Presidential Scholar Christina Trotta, a double major in Data Science and Analytics and Spanish language, has applied for an ETA in Mexico. Presidential Scholar and Psychology major Jesse John and Honors student and German Studies major Nicholas Mullaney have applied for ETA awards in Germany. If the students become finalists, they will spend the 2025-26 year abroad with full funding from the Fulbright Scholarship.

The Peabody Board of Jurors is comprised of media industry professionals, as well as journalists, critics and scholars, appointed to six-year terms.  All programs that are nominated and win Peabody Awards must receive a unanimous vote by the Board of Jurors.

The new Board of Jurors chair this year is Dr. Dana Heller, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Eastern Michigan University, and author of multiple books and articles on topics related to television, pop culture, media and gender/sexuality.

Find Dr. Heller's Peabody biography as well as more information here.

A bright-eyed student visited Eastern Michigan University's campus in 1997, hoping to find information about attending graduate school and furthering her learning journey. She walked into a small space which she assumed was a storage closet, and before she could turn around, was greeted by Rachel Brett Harley, the first undergraduate adviser in the Women’s Studies department. 

The potential student, not wanting to be a bother, let Harley know that she was just hoping to pick up a brochure in her quest for information about receiving a Master’s degree. Harley sat the student down and immediately got her signed up for a Master’s program in Women’s Studies, where the student found out that Harley heard of her before through a friend.

That student grew to become the first African-American administrative director of the Women’s Resource Center, and a current associate professor of the Women's and Gender Studies Department at EMU, Dyann Logwood. 

As a Ypsilanti native, Logwood became familiar with Eastern through her Upward Bound tutors and mentors who were students at the University.

Logwood attended the University of Michigan as an undergrad and received two Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies and Communication and Media Studies in 1997. Though her bachelor’s degree reflects her current field of study, Logwood admits that she did not enter college intending to focus on either of her ultimate majors.

Read the full Eastern Echo feature here.

Professor Amy Sacksteder is exhibiting four paintings in the January group exhibition, Dream Machine, a curatorial collaboration between Good Naked Gallery and The Middle Room Gallery in Los Angeles CA.

This work was made with the support of her 2023-24 FRF Award entitled Embedded: Fusing Contemporary Painting and Ceramics through a New Series of Oil Paintings with Inserted Tiles.

The title of this exhibition calls to Brion Gysin’s The Dreamachine, a light art device invented in 1959 wherein stroboscopic flickering was set up to influence eidetic visual effects. The artists in this exhibition activate a range of materials toward similarly oblique ends. Their rhythmic structuring of color, light, and surface presents opportunities for close looking and emergent visions. The artists in the group all pull from observational research as they build their resulting abstract forms, inviting recall, pause, and even potential hallucination, conjuring new realities and illusory movement.

DREAM MACHINE will be on view January 10 - February 23, 2025.

The Eastern Michigan University track & field programs welcomed back prominent alumnus and two-time United States Olympian Donald Scott (BS Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2015), as the teams hosted the Second Annual Bob Parks Memorial at Bowen Field House Saturday, January 25.

Scott, a nine-time United States Champion, World Indoor Bronze Medalist, and three-time NCAA All-American was the winner of the triple jump (16.77m – 55-00.20) and was one of four former Eagle standouts that returned to their Alma mater to compete.

Dr. Jendayi Gardner (BS Mathematics, 2001) recently became the Superintendent of Beecher Community School District. 

Gardner has worked in education since she graduated from Eastern. She taught for 10 years in Detroit Public Schools Community District and then moved into administrative roles in the district’s central office. Since 2022 she has been an administrator in Romulus Community Schools.

Gardner has identified four key goals for Beecher schools, one of which is to transform the district into a “STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) focused district.”

“We’ll make sure our students have projects based in hands-on learning opportunities to engage them in education, make it fun and exciting, then improving student achievement,” she said.

Read the MLive.com story.

Washtenaw County's new sheriff Alyshia Dyer (BA Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2018) has been in office since the beginning of 2025 and plans to use her past experiences in both public policy and social work to guide her through her term.

An Ypsilanti native, Dyer graduated from Eastern Michigan University and then served as a road patrol deputy officer for Washtenaw County for several years, as well as spending time as a therapist.

Dyer said those experiences, as well as growing up in Ypsilanti, have given her a first-hand connection to the community she now serves. Through her work, she said, she recognized a mental health crisis in the community, so she plans to use her background to find new approaches for the sheriff's office to provide support.

Read the full Eastern Echo Interview.

A shared passion for wildlife research brought Eastern Michigan University alumni Dorothy Zahor (BS, Environmental Science and Society, 2018; MS, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, 2021) and Kenneth Glynn (BS, Environmental Science and Society, 2019; MS, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, 2022) together in the lab—and then in life. Their multi-year study on American robins has revealed insights into how these birds can be bioindicators of lead contamination in urban and rural environments.

Their research, which began in 2018, focused on birds from EMU’s campus and several sites in Flint, Michigan, where elevated lead levels were detected during the Flint Water Crisis. While their collaboration started as a scientific endeavor, it eventually led to a lifelong partnership.

Zahor first became interested in how urban wildlife interacts with human-made pollutants as an undergraduate. She quickly realized that American robins—backyard birds known for their diet of earthworms—were ideal candidates for studying soil pollution.

“I was an undergraduate student when I became interested in how wildlife and humans share urban spaces, and how they might be exposed to our urban pollutants,” said Zahor. “American robins are a common backyard bird specializing in earthworm consumption, so they were perfect for investigating soil pollution in urban landscapes.”

Zahor initially launched her research under the mentorship of an EMU biology professor. When Glynn, who studied under the same professor, learned about her work, he was eager to contribute. 

Glynn and Zahor hypothesized wildlife that indirectly consumed soil could reflect the soil’s lead contamination through their blood contamination levels. This relationship could be used to gain a deeper understanding of how humans would be exposed to lead contamination in their communities. 

Read the full EMU Today story.

Eastern Michigan University alum Victoria Fields (BS Communication and Sport Management, 2019) has received the 2025 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award. The award recognizes graduate students who show promise as future leaders in higher education, with a focus on equity, community engagement, and academic innovation.

Fields earned a bachelor’s degree in Communication and Sports Management from EMU, graduating summa cum laude. She said her experiences at the university shaped her academic and professional journey.

“EMU means so much to me. It truly laid the foundation for my leadership, academic engagement, and passion for undergraduate teaching,” Fields said.

After completing her undergraduate degree at EMU, Fields earned a full-tuition scholarship to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she received a master’s degree in communication in 2021. She is now a doctoral candidate and Instructor of Record in the university’s Department of Communication. Her research examines the intersection of race and gender in social movements, society, and sports, often connecting historical insights to contemporary issues.

While at EMU, Fields was a McNair Scholar, a member of the Honors College, and vice president of the Sport Management Club. She worked as a student manager for the EMU Women’s Basketball Team and as an Athletic Marketing Intern, roles that helped her develop leadership skills and foster community connections.

Her dedication to academic excellence earned her the Outstanding Student in Sport Management Program Award and the McNair Scholars Program “Scholar of the Year” Award in 2019.

At the University of Illinois, Fields has continued her leadership work. She co-founded an annual symposium for women of color at the National Communication Association and works with the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, where she develops equity-focused programs for faculty and staff.

Fields credits much of her success to the mentorship she received at EMU, specifically from faculty members including Dennis O’Grady, Kathleen Stacey, Heather Neff, Ray Quiel, and many others.

“Each of them poured into me with their feedback, kindness, and expertise,” Fields said. “I am truly grateful for their support and guidance over the years.”

Fields received the Ebony Excellence Award for Instructor of the Year from the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center in 2023 and was selected as a 2024 fellow for the National Women’s Studies Association’s Women of Color Leadership Project.

Reflecting on her latest recognition, Fields described the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award as a significant honor.

“It inspires me to continue the work of equity inside and outside the classroom,” she said. “I strive to help build the confidence of my students and encourage them to use their voices to enact lasting change in society.”

Fields encourages current EMU students to embrace leadership opportunities.

“My advice is to never stop learning, get involved, be a good collaborator, and lift as you climb,” she said.

Read the full EMU Today story.

Since graduating from EMU five years ago, Nick Prentice (BS Secondary Education Social Studies with Mathematics minor, 2020) has taught math at Grass Lake High School, his alma mater. He also teaches theater arts and serves as tech director for the theater program. 

In a recent profile in the Jackson Citizen Patriot’s Meet the Teacher series, Prentice explained that a love of social studies and math drew him to teaching: “Math and social studies were always my favorite subjects growing up.That was what I was most interested in and good at, so that love of the content was one major reason. A lot of kids have that negative experience or connotations with math classes, so that became something I wanted to change. Even if at the end of the semester a student still doesn’t exactly love math, if I can make the class more enjoyable for them, if I could help explain things in a way they can understand better and relate to, if I can do any of those things that make coming to math class less of a dreadful experience that a lot of kids unfortunately have, I think that really drives me. With theater as well, the experiences I had in high school and just being able to work with kids outside of school to put together something significant where we all have to work together is such a big thing for me.”

Professor Amanda Maher is not surprised by Prentice’s early-career success. She relates, “I had the pleasure of having Nick in my social studies methods course in fall of 2019. He was a stand-out student and as a novice educator, he had the temperament of an experienced teacher. He was able to draw from his deep pool of knowledge and create engaging, relevant lessons for secondary learners. He completed his student teaching during COVID, which only made him more innovative and resilient.”

Read the MLive/Jackson Citizen Patriot feature.

The 45th annual event will be held in-person on March 28, 2025. Please plan to join us in

celebrating and supporting this tradition.

Five Decades of Undergraduate Research 

The Undergraduate Symposium started in 1981, and was one of the first of its kind in the nation. A prestigious and treasured EMU tradition, the Undergraduate Symposium allows students the opportunity to share their research and creative projects with the community. 

Support the Symposium

Please join us as a sponsor of Eastern Michigan University's annual Undergraduate

Symposium. 

Undergraduate Symposium initiatives include:

•  Undergraduate fellow appointments

•  Endowed undergraduate-level scholarships

•  Graduate-level fellowship awards

•  Operational needs

All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged in our event programs.

Please consider supporting your students as an Academic Advocate Sponsor!

$25- 500    Academic Advocate

Your contribution will be directed to the Undergraduate Symposium Advancement Fund to support annual program needs now

Payment Information 

Please visit: https://www.emich.edu/foundation/give/

•  Select “I would like to apply my gift to a specific fund”

•  Type in 00633 to select the Symposium Advancement account

For questions about giving or to discuss sponsorship opportunities please contact:

Julaine LeDuc

Director of Development, College of Arts & Sciences

Work:  734-487-0336

Cell:  734-846-2909

jleduc1@emich.edu

Eastern Michigan University’s planetarium took viewers on an educational journey with “Sunstruck,” an engaging show exploring the wonders of the Sun. Held on Jan. 29, the event provided viewers with knowledge about the structure, energy production, composition, source of energy of the Sun, and how it supports life on Earth.

"Having the opportunity to present this show to Eastern's community is remarkable," said Thomas Kasper, part-time lecturer at EMU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. "It offers a different kind of experience that provides students with an incredible view of the sky while deepening their understanding of our solar system."

Eastern’s planetarium, which opened in 2011 and began public events in 2013, features a full-dome digital theatre. Operated by EMU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, it offers viewers a unique 360-degree experience, immersing the audience with visuals and enhancing their senses. With around 15 to 20 shows in a calendar year, EMU’s planetarium continues to educate the students and public, allowing viewers to explore the wonders of space.

Presented by Norbert Vance, director of the Sherzer Observatory, the event began with the 20-minute planetarium show, followed by stargazing of the winter sky. Every planetarium show at Eastern features seasonal stargazing, and some also feature a live presentation of the night sky, offering attendees a deeper look into the sky right above them.

“Sunstruck,” created by the Michigan Science Center and first premiered in 2016, was funded by NASA. The show is available free of cost for any planetarium to present, making it a widely accessible tool for astronomy enthusiasts.

Read the full EMU Today article.

Eastern Michigan University Theatre is pleased to present Richard O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror Show. Get ready for an out-of-this-world adventure featuring a cast of wild characters in this campy musical comedy that inspired the cult film classic. The Rocky Horror Show will have audiences shouting from their seats and “Time Warp”ing in the aisles. Performances will occur on Feb. 13 and 14 at 7 p.m., Feb. 15 at a special time of 5 and 10 p.m., and Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. All performances will be held in the Legacy Theatre in the Judy Sturgis Hill Building at 1030 East Circle Drive on EMU’s Ypsilanti Campus. Runtime is approximately 2 hours, including a 15-minute intermission. The production is strongly suggested for mature audiences only. 

Traveling to visit their former science teacher, naïve sweethearts Brad and Janet experience car trouble and stumble upon the eerie home of Dr. Frank-N-Furter. Trapped inside with strange, scantily clad Transylvanians, Brad and Janet find themselves at the mercy of Frank and his motley crew. No one's life will ever be the same after this stormy night where impulses are acted upon, secrets are revealed and lessons are learned. Directed by Phil Simmons with Music Direction by R. MacKenzie Lewis and Book, Music & Lyrics by Richard O’Brien, The Rocky Horror Show is presented through a special arrangement with Concord Theatricals, www.concordtheatricals.com 

Following the inter-active traditions of this raucous show, the EMU Theatre production of The Rocky Horror Show will be unlike a standard theatre experience. Audience response is encouraged throughout the production with shout-outs and props. Participation kits with acceptable props will be sold in the theatre lobby for an additional fee. Shoutout suggestions will be included in the show program. Many audience members choose to dress up in the style of the show when they attend productions. Dig out your feather boas and high heels and join us for a fun, fabulous, noisy good time. 

EMU Theatre will partner with EMU’s Campus Life and LGBT Resource Center for a special Thursday night pre-show event available to EMU students. The EMU Preview performance on Thursday, Feb. 13, is a sneak peek of the final dress rehearsal before the official opening on Friday. The preview performance features a talkback with the company and an opportunity for audiences to share their input following the show. While the pre-show event is only available to students, the show and post-show talkback are open to all audience members. A representative from the LBGT Resource Center will also present a pre-show talk at our Sunday, 2 p.m. matinee on Feb. 16. The talk will begin 30 minutes before showtime. It will delve into the history and LGBT significance of the show. 

Read the full EMU Today article.

Eastern Michigan University’s "Enlighten U" podcast has earned the No. 1 spot among Michigan’s mental health podcasts, ranked by FeedSpot, a global podcast database. The podcast was recognized for its creativity, influence, and broad appeal, standing out as a vital platform for addressing mental health.

FeedSpot’s ranking process evaluates thousands of podcasts worldwide, using criteria such as relevancy, authority, social media presence, and freshness of content. This recognition highlights the podcast’s impact as a meaningful resource for listeners across Michigan and beyond.

“This recognition from FeedSpot is an honor,” added Lolita Cummings, Public Relations professor and podcast co-host. “Our goal has always been to shed light on topics that matter most to students, and we’re proud to see the impact it’s making.”

“We’re thrilled that ‘Enlighten U’ continues to resonate with listeners and gain recognition,” said Melissa Thrasher, EMU’s Executive Director of Media Relations and social media and podcast co-host. “While the podcast is designed with students in mind, its relatable stories and valuable insights are reaching a much broader audience, and for that, I’m incredibly grateful.”

Read the full EMU Today article.

As a leader in the movement to enhance civic education, Eastern Michigan University’s Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Institute for Civic Education (UICE) has received a CivXNow affiliate grant to strengthen civic education coalition work throughout Michigan. 

“We are honored to advance the MiCivics Coalition's goals for a more civically informed Michigan,” said UICE Director Brigid Beaubien. “This grant will help further the mission of the UICE by fostering a new generation of informed and engaged citizens, as well as innovative educators, for the benefit of students and teachers in Michigan and beyond.”

The MiCivics Coalition is committed to enhancing professional learning to improve content knowledge and effective teaching strategies, providing dedicated pre-service teacher education, and developing student programming, among other initiatives, to elevate civic education and civic readiness in Michigan. 

“We are pleased that EMU’s Upshur Institute will continue to raise awareness and advocate for effective and meaningful policy changes that promote lasting civic education,” said Ellen Zwarensteyn, Executive Director of the Michigan Center for Civic Education. “Civic knowledge and civic skills are essential for all of Michigan to thrive, both within and beyond the classroom.” 

Read the full EMU Today article.