Category: Humanities

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.

Abigail Kuehne (CCM) Named Member of MTU Team University Innovation Fellows

Congratulations to Abigail Kuehne (Psychology and Communication, Culture, and Media/ Applied Cognitive Science and Human Factors ’21), Sam Raber (Psychology ’22), Lindsay Sandell (Biomedical Engineering ’21), and Gary Tropp (Computer Network and System Administration ’22), who have been named University Innovation Fellows by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). This global program trains student leaders to create new opportunities for their peers to engage with innovation, entrepreneurship, design thinking, and creativity.

Michigan Tech’s team of University Innovation Fellows support student interests, create an ecosystem for innovation, and encourage environmentally sustainable practices on campus. They aim to preserve a culture of inclusion, encourage creativity and self-authorship, and help students create lasting connections. Current UIF proposals include a university-sanctioned gap year program, updates to campus wellness opportunities, student ambassador programs, and creating a space to reduce waste and encourage students to share and reuse common school items.

University Innovation Fellowship logo