Eastern Michigan University senior Ian Cook was honored by the College Football Playoff Foundation and Dr. Pepper with a $12,500 scholarship, the Mid-American Conference announced on September 14th. Cook earned his undergraduate degree in English and Spanish education and a graduate degree in TESOL (Teaching English to speakers of other languages). Once he wraps up his time at EMU, the Ohio native hopes to travel around the world, learning different cultures while teaching English, before becoming a teacher in the United States.

Dr. J. Nick Smith, Associate Director of Bands and Assistant Professor in the School of Music & Dance, has been awarded the American Prize in Conducting (band/wind ensemble division) for 2021. As a conducting and music education faculty member, he teaches Symphonic Band, Concert Band, Marching Band, Pep-Band, and Instrumental Music in the Public Schools. Smith completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Wind Band Conducting with emphasis in Choral Conducting at the University of Minnesota with primary teachers Emily Threinen and Kathy Saltzman Romey. His doctoral thesis, “Reimagining Nänie, Op. 82, Johannes Brahms: Inspiration, Creation, and Challenges of a Transcription for Chamber Winds and Chamber Choir,” was authored in conjunction with his final doctoral project, a transcription which was intended to increase collaborations between the wind band, orchestra, and choral mediums. Prior to his doctoral studies, he received his Master of Music degree in Wind Band Conducting from the University of Michigan with primary teacher Michael Haithcock.

In a new post on the Cambridge Core blog, Professor of Paleontology, Sedimentology and Stratigraphy Steve LoDuca explains a recent report in the Journal of Paleontology, in which he and his collaborators examine a group of fossils dating from the early part of the Silurian Period, some 438 million years ago. LoDuca writes, "The fossils examined were, for the most part, not new to science, with some having been collected almost 150 years ago from famed eurypterid-bearing beds near Buffalo, New York. For almost as long, paleontologists have debated whether they represent the remains of plants (algae) or animals, such as graptolites or hydroids. Questions in paleontology rarely get more basic."

Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Brian G. Sellers has published The Pre-Crime Society: Crime, Culture and Control in the Ultramodern Age (Bristol University Press, 2021). Sellers and co-editor Bruce A. Arrigo argue that we now live in a pre-crime society, in which information technology strategies and techniques such as predictive policing, actuarial justice, and surveillance penology are used to achieve hyper-securitization. However, such securitization comes at a cost – the criminalization of everyday life is guaranteed, justice functions as an algorithmic industry, and punishment is administered through dataveillance regimes.

Visiting McAndless Professor Kevin Boyle will give three public talks during the 2021-2022 academic year. On October 14th Boyle will deliver a lecture entitled "Ossian Sweet’s Life and Legacy" that draws on his National Book Award winning book Arc of Justice to explore the violent backlash and trial that took place when Black physician Ossian Sweet moved into a White neighborhood in 1920s Detroit. On November 4th, Boyle will give a lecture on "History as Narrative: The 1960s" that will coincide with the publication of his new book The Shattering: America in the 1960s. Finally, on January 27th, Boyle will speak about "Civil Rights and Film," an event that will be accompanied by an EMU film series. The talks will take place in the EMU Student Center and will also be streamed via Zoom.

Come and celebrate the return of choral events on our campus with SILENT MUSIC, an evening of choral music featuring three EMU ensembles, EMU Choir, EMU Vision & introducing EMU Voices. Free and open to the public with an EMU Choir alumni reception directly following the concert, it promises to be a terrific event for all!