Students from Eastern Michigan University's Fermentation Science program took 2nd place nationwide in the 2023 U.S. Open College Beer Championship, earning three medals for beers designed and brewed as a part of their studies. EMU students involved in the beers submitted to the competition were Destiny Aldinger, Aaron Bokas, Keith Camac, Alex Crombie, Mason Fretz, Taylor Heckaman, Kimgech Kean, and David Wolf. The competition was open to all colleges and universities offering brewing and fermentation courses.

EMU earned a gold medal in the American Dark Ale category ("Appointment with Danger"), and silvers in the Belgian Dubbel ("Dubbel Your Fun") and American Stout ("Inciting Event") categories. All of the beers were designed and produced as a part of the Fermentation Production Facilities course (FERM 441) and supervised and submitted by Prof. Cory Emal. Their placing improved upon a 4th place finish in the 2022 competition.

Miles Mercier, an EMU Physics major and Astronomy minor, was accepted to the Solar System Ambassador program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during Winter 2023. This program is a public engagement effort that works with motivated volunteers like Miles across the nation to communicate the science and excitement of NASA's space exploration missions and discoveries with the people in their communities. The program celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2022. 

Miles is the current President of the EMU Astronomy Club and the Student Manager of the EMU Planetarium. He's perfectly positioned to help the public engage with the night sky and with ongoing NASA missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope, the Perseverance Mars Rover, and Artemis (NASA’s mission to the Moon). During the 2023 Winter Semester, Miles conducted open observing nights on the EMU campus in Ypsilanti, where he teaches community members how to navigate the night sky and how to operate various kinds of telescopes. 

During the summer and fall, Miles plans to use the venues at Eastern Michigan University, like Sherzer Observatory and the EMU Planetarium, to help those interested in astronomy gain greater knowledge of the subject. He is planning to conduct star tours and guide the public in navigating the night sky and to properly use a telescope. Miles also plans to develop presentations on exoplanets, the lunar missions from Apollo to Artemis, and a tour of our Solar System.

Professor of Creative Writing Christine Hume has published her fifth book, Everything I Never Wanted to Know (The Ohio State University Press, 2023), a series of literary essays confronting the fraught subjects of sex offenders and women's bodies. Hume offers close readings of the movie Halloween, the Victorian era Frozen Charlotte doll, the so-called no candy laws, walking tours in Ypsilanti, the Nike of Samothrace, the Nylon Riots of the 1940s, and the National Sex Offenders Registry. Reviewers have called the work "essential reading" (American Library Association), "…mesmerizingly articulate" (Los Angeles Review of Books), "A thoughtfully disturbing, sharp sociological study" (Kirkus Reviews), and "Rich with…meandering, compelling, erudite essays firmly based in feminism" (Booklist). Publishers Weekly writes, "The heavy subject matter makes for tough but rewarding reading, and the prose is at turns elliptical, poetic, and powerful. It's a dauntless and harrowing indictment of patriarchal violence."

Hume says this book began in 2017 when she discovered that, at the time, one in 56 citizens of Ypsilanti were registered sex offenders. The first section indexes her crisis in reconciling how to live with this information and her baseline understanding that the registry is just another way to criminalize people without racial and economic privilege, just another piece of the empty theater of safety in our country. The second section focuses on broadly contextualizing another statistic: one in four women in our country experience sexual violence. Instead of expecting the facts we've known for decades to make a difference, Everything I Never Wanted to Know addresses these issues in narrative, speculative, and autobiographical terms.

In response to her book, Hume has been featured in conversation with April Baer on Michigan Radio's Stateside, in Largehearted Boy, in Poets & Writers' "Writers Recommend" series, and in an interview in Ann Arbor District Library's Pulp. Hume told Pulp that her writing informs her teaching at EMU: "I love my students and I do learn a lot of surprising and necessary things from them, but I don't want to think about teaching during the summer! It's difficult to break the mental hold teaching has on my brain each spring, but it's important for a revitalized sense of my own writing and ultimately to bring a fresh, energized investment into the classroom each fall."

For the 11th time since 2012, Professor Krish Narayanan has hosted Bits & Bytes, a camp that educates middle school girls about careers in computer science. This year Bits & Bytes was held on the EMU campus from June 26th through June 30th and was sponsored by the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (NASA). 27 girls attended the camp during the entire week. Four student members of the Women in Computer Science club helped Dr. Narayanan with the camp activities and served as mentors. Dr. Narayanan and the students taught the girls the basics of computing and how to problem-solve using block-based programming. The campers created video games and mobile apps, and explored programming of robots and flying drones. They also competed in a mock hackathon on Friday and solved a real-world problem using the concepts that they had learned during the week. There was a great turnout of family and friends for the closing ceremony on Friday.

"Girls get to explore computing in a friendly and supportive environment," said Professor Narayanan. "The goal of the program is to provide opportunities for girls to explore technology and interact with staff who are knowledgeable to answer their questions about the field." Dr. Narayanan started Bits & Bytes as a summer computing camp for her middle school daughter and her friends in her basement in 2012. It expanded yearly before moving to EMU in 2017. For the first four years at EMU, the camps were sponsored by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Bits & Bytes has served around 175 middle school girls and provided mentorship opportunities for around 20 college women since 2017.

Dr. Narayanan reports that she constantly receives requests for follow-up camps, and so this year she is launching Gigabytes, a new summer program for high school girls. Gigabytes will  teach computer programming through robots and drones, and it will start on July 17th. 

"Year after year, we have seen girls get excited to be a part of the camp and ask for more opportunities for such learning," Narayanan told EMU Today. "These programs provide an excellent opportunity to learn about a topic that does not get taught at schools or other after-school activities."

In 2023, the City of Ypsilanti celebrates its bicentennial, and several Eastern Michigan University students, alumni, and professors are helping to commemorate the occasion with a book. Ypsilanti Histories: A Look Back at the Last Fifty Years is the joint effort of nearly forty local historians, and it is edited by History Professor John McCurdy and Ypsilanti Historical Society President Bill Nickels.

"The history of Ypsilanti has been written before," notes Professor McCurdy. "On the occasion of the city's centennial in 1923, several community members worked to produce The Story of Ypsilanti, and this account was updated for the sesquicentennial. But we don't have a good account of the monumental changes that have rocked Ypsilanti since 1973, so we decided to focus on the last fifty years for the bicentennial."

Rather than being a single narrative, Ypsilanti Histories is a collection of essays. As befits the rich diversity of the community, the book captures a range of experiences from the university mascot to school consolidation, while also celebrating the city's oldest African American civic organization and the pioneering Ypsilanti Heritage Foundation. Beloved businesses like the Ypsilanti Food Coop and the Ypsilanti Thrift Shop are profiled in the book as are some of the city's greatest heroes, including former mayor George Goodman and Medal of Honor recipient Charles Kettles. Other topics include deindustrialization and the challenges that this brought to Michigan Avenue, Depot Town, and neighborhoods. 

To write the essays, McCurdy and Nickels asked community members to lend their experience and expertise to the project. Former mayors and city councilors contributed essays, as did several community leaders, entrepreneurs, and business owners. EMU is well represented in Ypsilanti Histories. John McCurdy contributed an essay as did History faculty members Kathy Chamberlain, Mary-Elizabeth Murphy, and Steven Ramold. Several authors are EMU alumni including Tom Warner, Evan Milan, and Janice Anschuetz, and one, Connor Ashley, is currently completing his master's degree in History and Preservation Studies at EMU. 

"Ypsilanti Histories would have never happened without the generous support of the community," McCurdy adds. "In addition to the authors, we are indebted to several local institutions for this book." The layout of Ypsilanti Histories was generously provided without cost by Fifth Avenue Press, the imprint of the Ann Arbor District Library. Funds to print copies of the book were generously provided by Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dana Heller, the Ypsilanti Historical Society, and the City of Ypsilanti. 

Copies of Ypsilanti Histories will be available for purchase at the Book Release Party at the Ypsilanti District Library (5577 Whittaker Rd, Ypsilanti, MI 48197) on July 16, from 2-4 p.m. Books can also be obtained from the Ypsilanti Historical Society and John McCurdy. Ypsilanti Histories is available for $20, and all proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Ypsilanti Historical Society.

Dr. Barbara Patrick, Department Head and Professor of Political Science, is a 2023 recipient of the Michigan American Council on Education (MI-ACE) Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award. This award recognizes women in higher education who have made a significant difference in the lives of their colleagues, campus communities and profession. 

The award citation notes, "Dr. Patrick, Professor and Department Head of the Political Science Department, is also the founder and director of EMU's Civil Rights & Social Justice Center. Dr. Patrick establishes collaborative networks across campus and in the region to develop new pathways and explore solutions to problems and dilemmas. She has worked with the EMU President's Commission on Women to develop a mentorship program supporting economically deprived and female students of color. In the summer of 2022, she launched the Mentorship for Success Initiative, and when students and faculty returned from the pandemic, she organized a two-day summer workshop on diversity, 'Where Do We Go from Here: Assessing the Status of Students of Color Across the Campus'; Race Matters: Equity & Action in Education.

"Dr. Patrick is a prolific scholar, accessible teacher and department head, student advocate, and mentor. She influences the tone and direction of conversations to design solutions or address selected issues. For 3 years she served as Chairperson of the Faculty Senate Task force on Campus Climate, Race & Diversity Issues. She led an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students to create a 3-part video series entitled: 'Creating a Culture of Belonging to EMU.' She has established relationships between EMU and Southern HBCU's, resulting in a bridge program to EMU Graduate Studies. Dr. Patrick organized a roundtable discussion with Police Chiefs and Administrators serving 15 majority-minority or economically vulnerable cities in Southeast Michigan. Dr. Patrick is clearly a catalyst for policy change in areas of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice within higher education and her community. She is a 'model of civic leadership and vision.'"

Rodney Veal (BS, Political Science and Visual Arts, 1988) is a leader of the Dayton, Ohio arts community. An accomplished dancer, choreographer, and visual artist, Veal hosts The Art Show, a PBS program that highlights artists and the art scene in and around Dayton, as well as a podcast, Rodney Veal's Inspired By. Veal teaches at Sinclair Community College, and several of his works have been performed in regional dance festivals. He serves as president of the board of trustees of Ohio Dance and on the boards of several arts organizations. 

The Dayton Daily News recently profiled Veal, reporting that, "Becoming a dancer was not Rodney Veal's plan, but as he learned, life doesn't always go according to plan. After graduating from Eastern Michigan University with degrees in Visual Arts and Political Science, he tried out a class at Dayton Ballet School. He was invited to join the second company, going on to earn an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University. Veal is still dancing at 58.

"ThinkTV took notice of Veal's dynamism when he presented at TedxDayton a decade ago. 'At that point, I was recovering from a life-threatening illness, sarcoidosis. The piece was about how sometimes our life takes detours.' He soon became the host of 'The Art Show' on Dayton's PBS station. 'The artists in Dayton get publicity, and I get to do this fun, challenging show. It’s a win-win.'

Continue reading the Dayton Daily News profile.

During a recent visit to campus, Jawan M. Jackson (BA, Theatre Arts, 2011) told Eastern Magazine about his career path from Eastern to the Broadway stage, where he portrayed Melvin Franklin, The Temptations' original bass singer, in "Motown: The Musical" and "Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations." Jackson is now touring as a member of The Temptations.

"Theater and arts and entertainment have always been part of my life," Jackson said. "I've been singing since I was a little kid. It just never dawned on me that I could make a career out of it because I had always been doing it just for fun." 

Jackson said that taking an improv class taught by Jessica "Decky" Alexander, Professor of Applied Drama, set him on a trajectory toward the theater. "I just fell in love with it."

See the Summer 2023 Eastern Magazine to read the feature about Jackson and to read about other CAS people and programs, including Ed Sidlow, Heather Neff, Aaron Liepman, Lada Protecheva, Forensics, Fermentation Science, and Physics & Astronomy.

The College in Prison Program is set to launch a Bachelor's degree at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Fall 2023. The initial offering will be a BA of General Studies, but the faculty plan to roll out a unique crafted degree, worked on in Winter 2023 by faculty from English; Sociology, Anthropology & Criminology; Communication, Media & Theatre Arts; History & Philosophy; Geography & Geology; Women's & Gender Studies; Leadership; and Social Work, and a Business degree in upcoming semesters.

The program has hired a director, Meghan Lechner, to oversee the launch and the logistics of the program. Three AmeriCorps interns have also been helping to prepare for this launch. Beth Currans, the Academic Administrator of the program (and Professor and Department Head of Women's and Gender Studies, and Decky Alexander, Director of ENGAGE (and Professor of Theater) successfully worked with State Representative Felicia Brabec to propose a $250,000 earmark to support the launch of this BA program.

The Department of World Languages will offer courses in Swahili language and culture during the 2023-24 academic year. Swahili is spoken in Burundi, Comoros, Kenya, Mayotte, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda and is an official language of the East African Community. An estimated 100,000,000 people speak Swahili as a first or additional language, and in the U.S. approximately 90,000 people speak Swahili at home. 

The courses will be funded by a federal grant to the University of Michigan to teach African languages. EMU has signed a subcontract on the U-M grant. Teaching an African language supports EMU's mission to "to prepare students with relevant skills and real world awareness…in and beyond the classroom to benefit the local and global communities" and the College of Arts and Sciences vision of "global community engagement" and mission charge for "Faculty and students [to] serve and enrich regional, national and international communities."  Teaching Swahili opens opportunities for students of Swahili descent to study their heritage language, and paves the way for potential study abroad opportunities to East Africa. 

While students from any major might find Swahili to be interesting and useful, World Languages especially expect that students in Africology and African American Studies, Anthropology, Business, Environmental Studies, Geology and Geography, History, Political Science, and Sociology may find the course of interest. We hope to expand our offerings over the next three years. However, whether it will remain an introductory course, like Korean, or expand to a minor, then major, like French, German, Japanese, and Spanish, depends on the student response. The goal of the grant is to have such a positive response that we can begin a K-12 Swahili degree in three years, and continue teaching it beyond the funded period. 

The Fall 2023 courses will be:

• SWAH 181: Special Topics: Beginning Swahili I 

• SWAH 179: Special Topics: Introduction to Swahili Language and Cultures (which will be cross-listed with AFC 179 and ANTH 179)