Category: Humanities

RTC Student Officers in GSG

The Graduate Student Government (GSG) has elected its Executive Board for the 2020-2021 session. The new Executive Board members include two RTC students: Aaron Hoover will serve as Secretary and Marina Choy will continue as Public Relations Chair. The roster of officers is below.

  • Nathan Ford (MEEM), President
  • Michael Maurer (ECE), Vice-President
  • Aaron Hoover (Humanities), Secretary
  • Laura Schaerer (Biological Sciences), Treasurer
  • Sarvada Chipkar (Chemical Engineering), Research Chair
  • Yasasya Batugedara (Mathematical Sciences), Professional Development Chair
  • Eric Pearson (Chemical Engineering), Social Chair
  • Marina Choy (Humanities), Public Relations Chair

The new Executive Board will assume office on May 1.

11th Annual Feminists Reading Feminists

closeup of a young caucasian woman in pajamas reading a book in bed

Join us for the 11th annual Feminists Reading Feminists event hosted by the Center for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) and the Humanities Department. Help us pay homage to the contributions of diverse feminist scholars and activists who have inspired us and continue to shape our evolving world.

The event will be held at 4 p.m. tomorrow (March 31) via ZOOM. We encourage you to sign up through our Google form ahead of time (or submit a video/picture through the Google form if you cannot attend) and at our virtual event via ZOOM, be prepared to share a chosen passage from your favorite text, your favorite video/audio clip, or simply participate by listening and engaging with those sharing.

Your selection should take five minutes or less to read or view. Prose, poetry and media are welcome. There will be time at the end for those who did not sign up ahead of time to participate in an open reading, ALL are welcome. Please join us virtually to engage in meaningful dialogue and celebrating the women’s history month – near and far – as a community. If you’re part of the dialogue, you’re part of the solution.

GSG Merit Awards – Winners Announced

This years awardees for the Graduate Student Government Merit Awards have been decided. A total of 88 nominations were received from departments all across campus. The decision process was not an easy one as there was a very strong pool of nominations this year. We are very grateful to all of our nominees for all of the work they put in to improve and enrich the life of our graduate students.

Without further ado, here are the award winners:

  • Exceptional Staff Member – Claire Wiitanen, Administrative Aide from the Physics Department
  • Exceptional Graduate Mentor – Victoria Bergvall, Associate Professor of Linguistics, Humanities
  • Exceptional Student Leader – Jacob Blazejewski, a PhD student from Mathematical Sciences
  • Exceptional Student Scholar – Nancy Henaku, a PhD student from Humanities

Congratulations to our winners and all you have done for our graduate students!

PhD Candidates Celebrated at Advancement to Candidacy Ceremony

RTC PhD candidates were celebrated at the first annual Advancement to Candidacy Ceremony conducted by the Graduate School for all ABD students. Attending the ceremony with their advisors were the following:

Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo (advisor Dr. Vicky Bergvall)
Nada Mohammad A. Alfeir (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Joshua Chase (advisor Dr. Abraham Romney)
Marina Choy (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Geethu Madeckal Jose (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Sara T. Potter (advisor Dr. Patty Sotirin)
Hua Wang (advisor Dr. Marika Seigel)

Dr. Fonkoué Publishes New Book

Dr. Ramon A. Fonkoué has published a new book titled Nation Without Narration: History, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Cameroon (Cambria Press, 2019). According to the publishers, “This book traces the roots of the current turmoil and sheds light on overlooked factors impacting nation building in post-colonial Cameroon. It demonstrates the urgency of cross-disciplinary work on African societies and the continued relevance of postcolonial criticism as a theoretical framework. It extends the postcolonial critique inaugurated by Homi Bhabha’s Nation and Narration into twenty-first-century sub-Saharan Africa. It also reframes the question of modernity and development in this context, suggesting an approach with a bearing on people’s lived experience.”

On the Road and In Print

Andrew Fiss

Andrew Fiss (HU) presented at and participated in the British Academy workshop titled “Universals’ Locales: The International and Global History and Sociology of Modern Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences” Jan. 8-9, in Edinburgh, Scotland at the University of Edinburgh.

His contributions introduced historical considerations for the study of cultural representations of mathematics and mathematicians, including broader questions about how mathematicians come to agree on terms and styles.

Peitho published “The Mathmagics of Media Princesses: Informal STEM Learning, STEM Rhetorics, and Animated Children’s Movies” by Andrew Fiss (HU).

Clients Needed for Grant Writing Course

Marika SeigelMarika Seigel (HU) is accepting proposals for potential client projects for Grant Writing (HU3694), offered this spring semester. For their final projects for the course, students will research and write grant proposals (or portions of grant proposals) for campus and community clients, usually nonprofit organizations.

The best grant projects for this class are small, well-defined projects that can be funded through smaller grants (typically $50,000 or less) from foundations or state government grant programs.

If you are involved with an organization that would be interested in collaborating with students to work on a grant proposal, or if you know of a potential client, contact Seigel at maseigel@mtu.edu, by Friday, Jan.17.