Day: May 23, 2024

Richard Canevez Awarded 2024 REF Seed Grant

Richard Canevez and Kette Thomas, Humanities, participate in a panel at the 2023 41 North Film Festival.
Richard Canevez, assistant professor of communication, culture, and media, has been awarded a 2024 REF Seed Grant.

Richard Canevez, assistant professor of communication, culture, and media in humanities, has been awarded a 2023 seed grant from the Vice President for Research Office Research Excellence Fund.

In its evaluation of the proposal the committee wrote: “The project will use narrative inquiry to gather and analyze information on the experiences of Ukrainian refugees, and thus is both timely and supportive of strategic goals of Michigan Tech related to global issues and those of the Humanities department.”

From the VPR web page, “REF-RS grants are designed to provide research faculty (including research scientists, engineers, and research assistant professors) and untenured, tenure-track academic faculty who have been in their current position with Michigan Tech for less than six years with additional resources to develop an externally supported research program.”

Canevez joined the humanities roster in spring 2023. His research focuses on social informatics, peace and conflict, social justice, and social movements and resistance, with a current focus on the war in Ukraine. He also teaches in communication, culture, and media, and will be teaching a course specifically in Power, Activism, & Technology next fall.

Congratulations, Dr. Canevez!

Lindsay Hiltunen Appointed to Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee

RTC PhD student and archivist in the University Archives, Lindsay Hiltunen, has been appointed to the advisory committee for the Ottawa National Forest.


University Archivist Lindsay Hiltunen (VPOL) has been appointed by Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to the new Ottawa National Forest Resource Advisory Committee (RAC). Members of the RAC are vetted and designated by the secretary of agriculture and meet under Federal Advisory Committee Act regulations. All meetings are open to the public.

A Secure Rural Schools RAC provides recommendations to the U.S. Forest Service on the development and implementation of special projects on federal lands as authorized under the Secure Rural Schools Act and Community Self-Determination Act in Public Law 110-343. This act was most recently reauthorized for two years by section 41202 of Public Law 117-58 (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15, 2021.

Vilsack appointed Hiltunen, along with 14 others, to serve four-year terms on the Ottawa National Forest RAC. The inaugural meeting will be called in summer 2024.