The EMU Forensics Team finished in third place overall at the National Forensics Association National Championship held April 15-18 at Illinois State University. These team members won individual honors:
Auryon Azar, National Champion, After Dinner Speaking
Geoff Gauthier, 2nd place, Impromptu Speaking
Sarah Dubinsky and Auryon Azar, 4th place, Duo Interpretation
Sarah Dubinsky, 6th place, Dramatic Interpretation
Estelle Hackos, Novice National Champion, Persuasion
Estelle Hackos, 2nd place, Novice Impromptu
Auryon Azar, National Champion, After Dinner Speaking
Avital Polston (Keeley), Physics Research Major
Avital Polston (Keeley), a Physics Research major, was awarded a slot in the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU) program at the University of California at Santa Barbara for Summer 2022. Avital will be developing Python computer programs that will accelerate the search for exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system. The programs will combine simulations of the performance of Earth-based and space-based scientific instruments to determine the most effective instrument and technique for exoplanet observation. The nine-week program starts in June, and includes a stipend and housing.
As a transfer student, Avital heard about the NSF REU program during initial advising, and then again from other physics students and her physics professors. Her advice: "Start early and treat it like an assignment." The application process involved writing a statement and obtaining letters of recommendation. According to one of her professors, Dr. Behringer, "In class, Avital demonstrated a great attitude and willingness to work hard and to work well with her classmates. Even when faced with a completely new task – like coding in python – she just simply got to work and asked for help when needed. All of these skills made her a great candidate for an REU. Obtaining an REU slot during the pandemic has been very challenging, and we are delighted that she has this opportunity." The Department of Physics and Astronomy looks forward to her return so that she can share all that she learned. For students who may be uncertain about whether to apply for REUs, Avital suggests: "Just get your foot in the door and do everything you can…just try, let the other person say no, and don’t lose hope."
The Department of Africology and African American Studies has released its first student academic journal known as Liberate! The premier edition of the journal, which is edited by Professor Toni Pressley-Sanon, was released on April 18.
Student Cozine Welch is profiled in the first issue of Liberate!
Leah VanLandingham presents her research at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America.
Dr. Eric Portenga and his former student, Leah VanLandingham, have a new paper that is the result of Leah’s Undergraduate thesis. The paper, entitled "Comparison of basin-scale in situ and meteoric 10Be erosion and denudation rates in felsic lithologies across an elevation gradient at the George River, northeast Tasmania, Australia", appears in the European Geosciences Union's new, open-access journal, Geochronology.
Dr. Portenga commented that "This is a really momentous opportunity for celebration of the research our undergraduate students do. Leah approached me to take on a small project to contract ESSC 325 Geomorphology for Honors, and she enjoyed working on a small dataset, so she asked if she could continue working on it for her thesis. I enjoyed working with her so much; her enthusiasm and dedication to the work encapsulated all the reasons why working with undergrads at EMU can be so fulfilling! And to have it published in a peer-reviewed, international journal, is just amazing."
Since graduation, Leah is happily working for Ford where she co-manages (non-)hazardous waste at 30+ sites in Dearborn.
Philosophy professor Dr. Brian Bruya’s new book, Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation, will be published by the SUNY Press in July 2022. Ziran, an idea from ancient Daoism, defies easy translation into English but can almost be captured by the term "spontaneity." It means "self-causation," if "self" is understood as fundamentally plural, and "causation" is understood as sensitivity and responsiveness. Applying ziran to the fields of action theory, attention theory, and aesthetics, Brian Bruya uses easy-to-read, straightforward prose to show, step-by-step, how this philosophical concept from an ancient tradition can be used to advance theory today. Incorporated into contemporary philosophy of action, ziran opens us to the notion of movement and action as self-organizing. Incorporated into contemporary cognitive science, ziran opens us to the possibility of effortless attention, contrary to the reigning paradigm. Incorporated into contemporary aesthetics, ziran opens us to a new category of art—somatic art—and a new, refined understanding of improvisation.
Dr. Marilyn Corsianos
EMU's Michigan-American Council on Education Women's Network has selected Dr. Marilyn Corsianos, Professor of Criminology and Women's & Gender Studies, as the 2022 Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Award recipient. The selection committee noted, "EMU's MI-ACE network overwhelmingly agreed that your contributions and work not only showcase your phenomenal contributions as a woman leader, but also showcase how you have served as a trailblazer in advocating for policy change and addressing barriers." Dr. Corsianos will be EMU’s nominee to the MI-ACE State Awards Committee for consideration to be the 2022 MI-ACE Distinguished Woman in Higher Education for the state of Michigan.
The 2021-22 CAS Detroit Theme Year will conclude with a lecture about Detroit activist James Boggs on April 21, and a Tigers game at Comerica Park on June 14.
The College’s schools and departments and the University Library and Archives overcame numerous pandemic-related challenges to present a rich series of events for the College’s first-ever year of themed programming. The Detroit Theme Year schedule included twelve lectures, eight panel discussions, three workshops, two half-time shows, three music and dance concerts, ten dramatic performances (of two different plays), four exhibits, one bus tour, and two Detroit-focused classes.
The College’s engagement with Detroit will continue beyond this year. This fall the College will host a screening of the new documentary Gradually, Then Suddenly: The Bankruptcy of Detroit and a conversation with storywriter and CAS alum Nathan Bomey. Drawing on Bomey’s 2017 book Detroit Resurrected: To Bankruptcy and Back, Gradually, Then Suddenly tells the story of Detroit’s 2013 municipal bankruptcy.
Daniel Baxter, Founder and CEO of the Dr. Ossian Sweet Foundation, welcomes EMU students to the Dr. Ossian Sweet House in February 2022.
Company E Dancers performed in the Annual Faculty and Guest Artist Choreography Concert on April 8 and 9 in Pease Auditorium. Company E members are dance majors and minors who are selected to be company members via audition. The concert featured the work of four guest Detroit-based choreographers who worked on campus with students for eight months to produce an original piece of choreography for the concert. EMU Dance values versatility in dance training and that was certainly on display in the concert as the pieces ranged from classical ballet to Detroit-based Jit/Funkateer dance.
A new museum exhibit in the McKenny Gallery focuses on food and the student experience from the early 1900s through today. Students from the Historic Preservation program spent this semester developing the concept and conducting background research, in addition to designing the messaging, the displays, and the presentation to the public. Many of the items on display came from the University Archives. The project was led by Associate Professor Nancy Bryk of the Department of Geography and Geology’s Historic Preservation program.
The exhibit will remain open for tours by appointment only until January of 2023. Appointments can be scheduled by contacting Professor Bryk at nbryk@emich.edu.
Photo by Marian Feinberg
On April 19th, the EMU Opera Workshop joined forces with the EMU Symphony Orchestra for the performance of the comedic opera Gallantry, by Douglas Moore. While the Opera Workshop students performed the piano version of this opera earlier this semester, this collaboration marks the first-ever performance they have held with the Symphony Orchestra.
Instructors and students in ESSC 329 spent four days on a class field trip to inspect the rocks in and around Marquette, MI. This class is a culmination of learning and allows students an opportunity to observe rocks as they occur in outcrops, moving the learning from classroom concepts to application in the natural setting. While the weather was questionable (snow and windy conditions), the trip was a great success, with a large amount of conceptual understanding happening in two days. Stops included banded iron formations at Jasper Knob, the Black Rocks of Presque Isle, the Upper Peninsula Geologic Core Repository, and Harvey Quarry, with 2 billion-year-old fossil stromatolites. The trip was lead by Dr. Christine Clark (Interim DH of Geography and Geology) and Dr. Lindsay Kolbus (PTL).
Students and instructors on Jasper Knob, Ishpeming, Michigan
Dr. Marty Shichtman
On Tuesday, May 24, the Eastern Michigan University Center for Jewish Studies will celebrate 10 years of community, conversation, and culture. Be ready to share in story-telling fun, live music by Ari Axelrod, and delicious food as we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Center for Jewish Studies along with the retirement of Dr. Marty Shichtman. A plated dinner will be served. The celebration will begin at 6:00 PM in the EMU Student Center Ballroom.
EMU’s Center for Jewish Studies has become a space for community engagement where all of Southeast Michigan’s numerous ethnic communities can learn more about Jews and Judaism. In its ten years, the EMU CJS has sponsored a wildly successful lecture/performance series along with receiving numerous grants.
But most of all, Eastern’s CJS has provided opportunities for young people to engage deeply with a culture and history that may not be their own; to meet members of the local Jewish community, learn from them, and call them friends; to expand their thinking about what it means to be an ethical person in the twenty-first century by imagining diverse points of view; to embrace people unlike themselves and realize that our differences pale in comparison with our shared humanity.