College of Sciences and Arts Newsblog

Category: Social Sciences

Michigan Tech’s Wales Study Abroad Program Continues to Evolve with Gilman Pioneering Institution Grant

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Michigan Tech students pose beneath a massive red sign that says, “Eisteddfod” during the festival in 2025.
In 2025, Michigan Tech’s study abroad trip to Wales expanded to include the National Eisteddfod, the country’s largest festival. A $10,000 grant will help expand the 2027 trip to focus on critical minerals and the copper industry. Photos courtesy of Mark Rhodes.

Tech’s semiannual study abroad trip to Wales, supported by the social sciences department, takes a new focus on critical copper connections in 2027, following the receipt of a $10,000 Pioneering Institution Grant from the Gilman Program. Mark Rhodes, an associate professor of geography, has led the study abroad program since its inception as an ethnographic research trip in 2022. That year, a combination of 14 graduate students and community members attended.

“While our primary goal was collecting data, in the back of my mind, I was already starting to plan out a program,” said Rhodes.

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Tech’s Summer Youth Programs Offer Ample Opportunities in Sciences, Arts

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Two Summer Youth Program students view exhibits of mining and lumber history and tools with joyous curiosity at a local museum.
Learning meets adventure as participants in Tech’s Summer Youth Programs discover the wonder, history, art, and nature of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

Registration is now live for Michigan Tech’s 2026 Summer Youth Programs. Each summer, nearly 1,000 middle and high school students from around the world immerse themselves in hands-on learning through week-long career explorations designed to help them discover college pathways and real-world opportunities. Whether they’re noodling over neuroscience, curious about chemistry, or enthusiastic about ecology, the extraordinary courses include many offerings in the College of Sciences and Arts (CSA).

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CSA Academy Honors Newest Inductees

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Steven Fantetti and Derhun Sanders, two new members of the Academy of Sciences and Arts, stand holding wooden plaques alongside University President Rick Koubek and CSA Dean LaReesa Wolfenbarger at the induction ceremony.
Steven Fantetti ’07, far left, and Derhun Sanders, far right, ’97 were welcomed into the Academy of Sciences and Arts by University President Rick Koubek and CSA Dean LaReesa Wolfenbarger.

Each year, the Academy of Sciences and Arts recognizes alumni who have brought distinction to themselves, the College of Sciences and Arts, their departments, and Michigan Technological University through their outstanding contributions to and leadership in their chosen professions and/or through distinguished public service.

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College of Sciences and Arts Welcomes New Faculty, Celebrates New Appointments

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Students walking on campus by the Walker Arts and Humanities Center sign.
The new academic year brings new students and new faculty to the College of Sciences and Arts.

The College of Sciences and Arts announces nine new faculty appointments for this academic year. These faculty bring a wide variety of knowledge and skills to the College, our students, and our research. Their individual areas of expertise include dark-room photography, photonics characterization techniques, human-AI interactions, political science and jazz history. Please join us in welcoming these Huskies to their new positions!

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Social Sciences Associate Professor Awarded Fulbright

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Social Sciences Associate Professor Mark Rhodes temporarily stepped away from Tech’s campus to complete his 2025-2026 Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Scholarship in Halle, Germany.

Mark Rhodes, associate professor of geography in Tech’s social sciences department, is one of two scholars selected as a 2025-26 Fulbright US Scholar within the Fulbright-Schuman European Union Affairs Program.

Rhodes’s research leverages Michigan Tech’s unique focus on industrial heritage and archaeology and environmental and energy policy to understand the policy process behind Europe’s industrial heritage. Tech offers the world’s only industrial heritage and archaeology PhD program in the world.

“So many communities around the world, including those in our own back yard and where I’m from in the Illinois Rust Belt, are struggling to navigate deindustrialization,” said Rhodes. “Europe seems to have gotten much more creative in how to not only continue sustainable industrial production but use those former facilities in innovative ways that preserve communities and economic livelihoods.”

Mark Rhodes smiles at the camera, wearing a zip up Michigan Tech branded fleece in front of a scenic view of trees, hills and a lake on a cloudy day.
Mark Rhodes will spend six months in Europe continuing his work on European heritage site policies, designation and narratives.

Mark Rhodes is spending six months continuing his work on European heritage site policies, designation, and narratives.
Rhodes noted that Europe, known as one of the first regions in the world to begin a shift away from extractive and manufacturing economic activities, has also been a global leader in preserving, interpreting, and managing difficult cultural and economic transitions. Europe has 48 industrial World Heritage Sites, as designated by UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In addition, the European Route of Industrial Heritage connects more than 2,400 individual sites. Rhodes’s work explores how EU policy shapes the relationships and laws impacting site designation and narrative, along with understanding how the two are interconnected. His research—spanning the EU—combines in-depth interviews, archival work, and institutional analysis to better understand and inform industrial heritage best practices.

He’ll spend six months in Halle, Germany, hosted by Martin Luther University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Area Studies and Institute of Geosciences and Geography. The Fulbright-Schuman Program, is administered by the Fulbright Commission in Belgium, is jointly financed by the US Department of State and the European Union’s (EU) European Commission. The fellowship aims to strengthen international relations between the US and EU by supporting policymakers and scholars focused on US-EU relations, EU Policy, or EU institutions.

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Rising Scientist Shares Interdisciplinary Inspiration In Award-Winning Essay

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Nyasha stands outside on a sunny patio at Ashesi University in Ghana.
Nyasha Milanzi has pursued an interdisciplinary academic path and encourages others to do the same. (All photos courtesy of Nyasha Milanzi)

Nyasha Milanzi wasn’t entirely surprised to win the Rising Black Scientists Award. She had a feeling. And she’d worked hard on her application.

“This is probably coincidental, but I actually wrote in my diary that I was going to win the prize after I submitted it,” said the graduate research assistant, who is slated to receive her master’s degree in sustainable communities this year. “I felt my essay was well written and thought I was going to win the prize, so I wrote it down.”

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CSA Students Observe Climate Issues and Initiatives  at United Nations Conference

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A large three-dimensional sign saying #COP29 stands in front of a green interior wall. The wall above the sign reads, “In solidarity for a Green World”.
Four Huskies attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP 29, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

For the fifth year, Huskies attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference to observe the world’s only multilateral decision-making forum on climate change, also known as COP 29. COP 29 stands for the 29th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a landmark international treaty agreed in 1992, and parent treaty to the 2015 Paris Agreement.

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Husky Preserves Indigenous Language as Voice Actor in Ojibwe Star Wars Dub

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Kalvin Hartwig stands in a sound-proofed recording studio in front of a computer, microphone and recording equipment as he records lines for his voice acting role.
Michigan Tech alumnus Niigaanii-Animikii Inini Kalvin Hartwig ’10 brings his mission of supporting Indigenous language to new heights as one of the main cast voice actors in the Ojibwe dubbing of Star Wars: A New Hope.

Michigan Tech alumnus Niigaanii-Animikii Inini Kalvin Hartwig ’10 continues his career-long dedication to supporting Indigenous language and cultural revitalization as one of the main cast voice actors in an Ojibwe dubbing of Star Wars: A New Hope. 

Hartwig is an award-winning filmmaker, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, and a Tech graduate in social sciences, humanities and German. He voices the Red Leader character, originally played by the late Gordan “Drewe” Henley in the dub, which began streaming on Disney+ on Oct. 27. 

Read more about Hartwig’s passion for the project, how he got involved, and the recording process in the full feature by Jordan Shawhan,  Husky Makes History with Voice Role in Ojibwe Dubbing of Star Wars, at Michigan Tech Alumni Stories.

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New Institute Brings Keweenaw Time Traveler to the World—And New Researchers to Keweenaw

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Deep-mapping projects like Keweenaw Time Traveler can engage communities in meaningful, multi-generational explorations. (Image courtesy KeTT)

An advanced institute in the spatial and digital humanities is coming to Michigan Tech.

Don Lafreniere, a professor of geography and geographic information science (GIS) in Tech’s Department of Social Sciences is leading a team of researchers, staff, and students from Michigan Tech and Wayne State University on project that will develop the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Community Deep Mapping Institute. The project is supported by a $250,000 NEH grant.

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Two CSA Faculty Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Michigan Tech

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Brick two story building with concrete walkways in front, surrounded by green grass, shrubs, and trees.
The Social Sciences Department, home department of University Professor Kathy Halvorsen is housed in the AOB Building on the Michigan Tech campus.

Kathy Halvorsen and Quiying Sha have been honored for their substantial contributions to teaching, research, and service and are among seven professors recognized through Michigan Tech’s Distinguished and University Professorships. They represent a small percentage of faculty recognized with these awards by the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.

University Professors represent no more than two percent of the total number of tenured and tenure-track faculty at Michigan Tech. Since its inception in 2020, four of the seven University Professors have hailed from the College of Sciences and Arts, including three from the Department of Physics. Halvorsen is the first recipient from the Department of Social Sciences.

Distinguished Professors represent no more than 10 percent of the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty in a specific college or school. Since its inception in 2018, four of the 11 Distinguished Professors have been chosen from the College of Sciences and Arts. Sha is the first recipient from the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

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