Now in its second year, the Ethics Bowl team represented EMU admirably at the Central States Regional Tournament at Marian University in Indianapolis, IN (November 22, 2025). The Ethics Bowl, organized annually by the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE), is an intercollegiate, debate-style competition that places primacy on the collaborative pursuit of solutions to complex ethical challenges facing contemporary society through philosophical dialogue.

This year’s team, comprising two second-year members (Andrew Hengy, History and Philosophy; Allie Zwiker, Cybersecurity) and two first-year members (Brendan Maguire and Lillian Yanez, both Philosophy and Political Science), finished with a 2-1 record, defeating teams from the University of Chicago and Youngstown State University. Their one loss came against the winners of the tournament, Bowling Green State University. Coach Kristopher Phillips, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, could not be more proud of the team’s display of extemporaneous speaking skills, reasoned argumentation, and collaboration. 

Learn more about the Ethics Bowl

In Fall 2025 semester, Professor Nancy Bryk’s Preservation Studies students collaborated with the Ypsilanti Historical Society on an unusual museum exhibition. The Ypsilanti Historical Society, at 220 N. Huron St in Ypsilanti, built ca. 1860, was home to many inhabitants over the years until it became the headquarters of the historical society in the 1970s. Our graduate students were particularly intrigued with the Bomber Plant war workers who lived in the building during World War II, as revealed by the city directories. Nancy Bryk approached the historical society, asking if her students could reinstall one of the second-floor spaces as the rented room of a boarder who lived there during the war years. The Ypsilanti Historical Society agreed and generously committed to sharing in the expenses of the installation.  

To re-create the bedroom of a “Rosie,” the students researched all renters who lived there during World War II. They found the best information on factory inspector Laura Craig, who lived in the building in 1945. She was born in Chicago, divorced with adult children, who moved to Ypsilanti to work in the Bomber Plant when she was in her mid-fifties. In fact, the students found Laura Craig’s granddaughter, Linda Kouba (aged 84) who was born in Ypsilanti and now lives on Ann Arbor’s West Side. Mrs. Kouba kindly shared information about her grandmother, her work at Willow Run, and photos of her in her Bomber Plant inspector’s uniform seen below (the uniform was replicated by one of our students at right). This information provided us with specifics that bring the room to life. 

Students also studied Ypsilanti’s war-time life and work, exploring recollections of female Bomber Plant employees that were provided to us by the Michigan Flight Museum. Students were inspired by photos of boarding houses as we did not have any photos of Laura’s room in the house, unfortunately. They scrounged for modest pre-war era furnishings in antique shops and in storage at the Ypsilanti Historical Society they believed Laura Craig could have used. In just four Saturday class meetings, they transformed this room to 1945. 

Laura Craig’s granddaughter, Mrs. Linda Kouba, and her family were guests of honor at the ribbon-cutting of the re-created bedroom on December 14. The family was thrilled with the results. We are, too. Our students learned how these immersive environments are created, based on impeccable research and informed imagination. We hope that visitors to the Ypsilanti Historical Society understand that this historic house (and any historic house) has been home to many different people over the decades. Our Preservation Studies students are just the ones to explore and share their stories. 

In November 2025, first-year WGST M.A. student Angie Tamayo Leon presented a poster presentation at the National Women’s Studies Association in Puerto Rico.  Her poster was entitled, “"Resisting the Algorithm: How Black & Brown Youth Reclaim Digital Spaces."  Based on qualitative analysis, Angie discussed how youth of color can subvert stereotypes in digital environments, especially as it relates to body positivity and identity.

Angie is a student based in New Jersey, who is part of WGST’s new hyflex cohort of students.  Her work is based in community and youth social justice. She is committed to creating spaces where young people, particularly Black and Brown youth, feel valued, affirmed, and empowered. Angie received her Bachelor’s at the College of New Jersey with a dual degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and English. She’s worked in the mental health field with the 988 Crisis Hotline and RWJ Barnabas Health, and as an Immigrant Youth Advocate with the New Jersey Consortium for Immigrant Children. 

Currently, she works with Planned Parenthood as a Sexual Health Educator creating lesson plans and facilitating workshops for K-12 students and college students. She is also the Program Lead of Diverse Health Advocates where her team researches sexual and reproductive health resources for young adults. Additionally, she is the Director of Digital Decode, a virtual program for high school girls of color that uses storytelling and multimedia art forms to create their own digital narratives that have a positive message about their identity and community.  

Professor Brigid Beaubien, Director of the Department of History and Philosophy’s Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Institute for Civic Education, recently spoke with journalist Ameera Salman (BS Journalism, 2025) about the importance of media literacy, civility, and civic education. 

“We’ve moved so fast in the last 25 years in this world that nobody’s really stopped and thought intentionally about how [civics] should be addressed,” Beaubien said. “When I started in my career, both as a teacher and as a professor, [media literacy] wasn’t even something we really had to think about. We as a society need to focus on building knowledge and critical thinking skills.”

A 2023 Michigan study by social studies leaders found that elementary social studies instruction is severely marginalized due to standardized testing pressures in reading and math. Surveying nearly 1,000 educators, the Michigan Council for the Social Studies “State of Elementary Social Studies” report revealed limited class time, resources, and professional development for teaching social studies.

Beaubien also highlighted the importance of civility in politics and online, something she said she sees as a core aspect of media literacy and civic education.

“We need to make sure we’re building deliberative dialogue, that people understand what discourse looks like in a way that’s civil and promotes problem solving and not just attacking the other side,” Beaubien said. “I think we really have to tease apart this belief polarization, where when we’re with people who believe the same way we do, our belief about the other side becomes more vehement.”

Read the full story at Michigan Advance

Director of Sherzer Observatory Norbert Vance shared time-lapse and assimilated photos of meteors during the annual Geminid meteor shower taken Saturday night (12/12-13/2025) at Fish Lake by his astronomy friend and cohort from a trek to Cerro Tololo, Chile, in June 2024, Dr. Brian Ottum. Ottum is a talented astrophotographer with the equipment and software skill to pull off these views of what is perceived visually during the brutally cold night. Norbert's automated S30 scope is rated to around 12 degrees F but Ottum's wide angle tracked shots were done in zero degree conditions with sub-zero wind chills.

Kevin, Jack, and Norbert bundled up for the hours it took to patiently observe the display seated in low back chairs while Brian and Joe tended to their cameras. Brian processed these from several hours worth of exposures taken between the trailer and the pole barn-- a Boy Scout group was using the dining hall and dorm Saturday night. The men still ventured up to take advantage of the darker skies and warmth the trailer provided, staying overnight through Monday morning to do follow up observations 24 hours later (Sunday night). 

"Our counts agreed with the expected numbers, averaging some 60 to as many as 120 or more per hour, and those of the American Meteor Society" Vance shared. Numbers dropped off sharply 24 hours later, Sunday night. "In short, if you missed it Saturday, the next night was a bust". Norbert ranked this display among the top three he had seen in all his years, topped only by the 1992 Perseids and 2001 Leonid displays, also observed at Fish Lake.

The Geminids are remnants not of a comet but rather an asteroid, 3200 Phatheon, that burn up when the Earth crosses the orbital path each year in December. The tiny particles zip into the atmosphere at around 20+ miles per second ionize the air starting up around 60 miles, the streaks we see. The first photo you see stars trailing due to the Earth's rotation with meteor streaks captured over several hours in a composite. The second is a composite of a still with the sum of meteors he captured during that same time. 

"Either way, it was a fun display to watch despite the brutal temps we endured. The Perseids during the summer we deal with mosquitos, this shower the cold. Whatcha gonna do?  :) ".

Alum Jaylen Taylor (BS 2020, Biochemistry) just earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Ohio State University. 

At EMU, Jaylen was a 4-year undergraduate research student who joined Dr. Deborah Heyl-Clegg’s research group as a freshman in the fall of 2016. She was a McNair Scholar and Symposium Undergraduate Research Fellow, and she won an Undergraduate Research Stimulus Award. Jaylen worked on an evolving project that involved using anti-microbial peptides as agents to kill cancer cells, which included collaboration with Dr. Hedeel Evans and Dr. Jeff Guthrie. This meant that she eventually worked in three different labs with different lead mentors for various aspects of the work, synthesizing and purifying the modified peptides with Dr. Heyl-Clegg, doing cell culture and toxicity work with Dr. Guthrie, and performing signaling assays under Dr. Evans. During her senior year, she wrote her Honors thesis with Dr. Evans on examining the role of BDNF and pro-BDNF on the survival of lung cancer cells. In addition to being a 4-time Symposium presenter, Jaylen presented her research at several local and national conferences as well as McNair conferences, wrote an article for McNair Scholars Journal, and was a coauthor on a journal publication in FEBS Open Bio.

“Generally, I don’t take students that early in their college careers, but there was something special about Jaylen’s enthusiasm that convinced me to take a chance,” said Professor Heyl-Clegg. “She was very motivated and willing to learn. She actually did the research before fully understanding the background material from the coursework, and different aspects of the research would ‘click’ for her while she was taking organic or biochemistry, which was fun to watch. I was particularly proud of Jaylen’s development as a critical thinker, polished speaker, research scientist, and confident young woman which led to her selection as student emcee of the 2020 Undergraduate Symposium and her acceptance into the doctoral program at Ohio State University. Last year, I was pleasantly surprised to unexpectedly come across her standing in front of her poster at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego, where we were able to catch up and discuss her culminating Ph.D. work! We are so proud of Dr. Jaylen Taylor and are so grateful for the opportunity to have mentored her.”

Samantha Smith (BS 2004, Criminology) has released a memoir, The Possibilities of Hope, reflecting on her faith, healing and finding purpose after pain. She shared that EMU was a cornerstone of her journey, and she hopes to inspire people to persevere through tough times. 

After losing her mother to COVID-19, Smith faced a level of grief that seemed insurmountable. Yet through faith, truth-telling, and her determination to heal, Smith began transforming her pain into purpose through the creation of The Possibilities of Hope.

Blending poetry, reflections, and personal testimony, the book speaks to anyone who has ever felt forgotten, broken, or uncertain about how to move forward. At its core, The Possibilities of Hope is a reminder that healing is possible—even after the deepest losses.

"Possibilities of Hope was born from a vision to remind people that no matter the battles they face, hope is real, healing is possible, and brighter days are ahead," said Smith.

Learn more on Amazon. 

Diana M. Pancioli, Professor of Ceramic Arts at Eastern Michigan University from 1991 to 2018, passed away at home on December 9, 2025. 

Born in Detroit in 1942 to Arthur and Theresa Pancioli, Diana was a lifelong creative force who viewed her work as part of a 20,000-year human history of making objects from clay. She was a graduate of Redford High School and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts, cum laude, from Wayne State University in 1970. She later earned her Master of Fine Arts from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred in 1989.

A celebrated ceramic artist, Diana left an indelible mark on the art world and the landscape of Detroit. She had a deep connection to Pewabic Pottery, where she achieved a major chemical breakthrough by reinventing the iridescent luster glaze created by founder Mary Stratton using non-toxic chemistry. From 1979-1982, she taught in the Craft and Design Department at St. Clair College (Thames Campus) in Ontario, Canada, and then co-managed Pewabic’s production department. Her artistic legacy stands tall in the city, where she designed and supervised several public installations. These include the beautiful 'ARC' mural at Detroit Receiving Hospital, the striking arches of the 'In Honor of M.C. Stratton' mural at the Detroit People Mover’s Cadillac Station, and the 65-foot 'PASSAGE' mural at the Compuware Headquarters. Her work also graces Henry Ford Hospital and the Karmanos Cancer Institute.

Diana’s work was not limited to public murals; she was a master of utility and form. She often spoke of the "endless delight" of creating within the boundaries of functional ware, yet she also explored the abstract. Her "black period" wall sculptures, glazed in deep black, were inspired by her early love of charcoal drawing—a testament to her belief that clay requires a "multiplicity of skills: technical, physical, intellectual, and aesthetic." In 1999, she shared this expertise with the world in her book, Extruded Ceramics.

Diana was as passionate about teaching as she was about clay. She served as a Professor of Ceramic Arts at Eastern Michigan University from 1991 until her retirement in 2018. Believing that art should be accessible to everyone, she developed her famous "Big Pots" course. Using ancient Jomon and Chinese pottery as inspiration, she taught non-art majors to build massive vessels using extruded clay, allowing thousands of students to feel the joy of connecting with ceramic history.

Read Professor Pancioli's full obituary in the Detroit News.