Category: News

Joel Beatty and Stefka Hristova Co-author Book Chapter

Joel Beatty and Stefka Hristova wearing graduation robesRTC graduate, Joel Beatty, and professor Stefka Hristova have co-authored a chapter in the book, Surveillance, Race, Culture, published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. Their chapter is titled “Articulating Race: Reading Skin Color as Taxonomy and as Numerical Data”. According to Dr. Hristova, the chapter “explores the transformation of race into biodata at the turn of the 20th century”. The book is edited by Susan Flynn, University of the Arts, London; and Antonia Mackay, Oxford Brookes University. 

La Peña Conversation Hour Dates Announced

students sitting at a table playing Spanish ScrabbleJoin us at la Peña, the Spanish conversation hour hosted by the Department of Humanities and the Modern Languages Program. We come together several times during the academic year to speak Spanish in an informal social gathering. Come relax, meet Spanish speakers of all levels, and have a light snack and refreshment. Friends welcome!

La Peña is held from 5-6 p.m in Walker 120A. Join us on the following Tuesdays for Fall 2018:

  • September 11
  • September 25
  • October 9
  • October 30
  • November 13
  • November 27

 

Laura Kasson Fiss Presents Paper at The Body and the Page Conference

Laura Kasson-FissLaura Kasson Fiss presented a paper entitled “The Bodies of the Idler’s Club: A Quantitative Analysis of Column Contributors” at The Body and the Page, an international conference jointly hosted by the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals and the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada in Victoria, British Columbia.

Math Luther, Undergraduate English Major, Wins Study Abroad Scholarship

Matt LutherMichigan Tech undergraduate students Matt Luther and Trenton Woodcox are two of four recipients to win a Japan Business Society of Detroit (JBSD) Foundation scholarship to study Japanese language and culture at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities (JCMU) in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. They will arrive in September, and study on JCMU’s campus the entire 2018-19 academic year. The $4,000 scholarships will offset travel, tuition and living expenses.

Motivated by career goals, both are certain their year abroad will set them up for success in competitive professions.

Luther, an English major with a minor in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), says he “was interested in Japanese culture from a young age. After I graduate, I plan to go to Japan to teach English long term.”

Woodcox is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social sciences with a focus in law and society. Expected to graduate in 2020, he says he wants to “work on international policy or law at the U.N., work at an embassy like the Japanese embassy or work with the CIA in country profiling, so I think (studying abroad in Japan) will definitely help a lot.”

Read the full story on mtu.edu/news.

Victoria Sage Receives Award from Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council

Victoria SageVictoria Sage, technical writer in the Center for Technology & Training (CTT), is the recipient of the 2018 Carmine Palombo Individual Award from the Michigan Transportation Asset Management Council (TAMC). In addition to her duties as a technical writer at the CTT, Sage is editor of the Michigan Local Technical Assistance Program’s The Bridge newsletter.

In announcing the award, the TAMC notes “Vicki’s work in these roles has been a great service to the TAMC in that many of Vicki’s efforts advance the strategies of the TAMC Work Program through key training and educational initiatives for professionals at local transportation agencies. Vicki has also provided leadership and advocacy of asset management principles as well as communicating relevant programs of the TAMC and transportation agencies across Michigan in helping develop stories in The Bridge.”

One of the driving factors in Sage’s nomination for this award was her role in development of the TAMC Bridge Asset Management Workshop. Using innovative features of common desktop software, she transformed the TAMC training into a focused workshop to quickly and easily create a bridge asset management plan for students attending the training.

“Vicki had a vision to improve the creation of bridge asset management plans, and she developed an innovative way to use everyday tools to help the workshop attendees,” says TAMC Bridge Committee Chair Beckie Curtis. “This innovation has been a game changer in terms of what can be accomplished in the training workshops and making it even easier for people to have a document that they can then use to organize treatments in a way that is financially manageable.”

Transportation asset management is a process of managing public assets, such as roads and bridges, based on the long-range condition of the entire transportation system. TAMC, created in 2002 by the Michigan Legislature, promotes the concept that the transportation system is unified, rather than separated by jurisdictional ownership. Its mission is to recommend an asset management strategy to the State Transportation Commission and the Michigan Legislature for all of Michigan’s roads and bridges.

Andrew Fiss Awarded Research Excellence Fund Award

Andrew FissThe Department of Humanities congratulates Andrew Fiss for receiving a Scholarship and Creativity Grant through the Research Excellence Fund. The Vice President for Research Office announced the 2018 Research Excellence Fund awards and thanked the volunteer review committees, as well as the deans and department chairs, for their time spent on this important internal research award process.

This grant provides support to encourage faculty to engage in scholarly research, learning, and creative activities to enhance professional development.

Anna K. Swartz Participates as Invited Panelist

Anna K. SwartzAnna K. Swartz, a graduate of Rhetoric, Theory & Culture, participated as an invited panelist at the 2018 Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy and Ethics Spring Symposium: “Held Against My Will: Conversations About Involuntary Commitment and Forced Treatment” at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in Los Angeles, California on April 16.