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Scholars and Projects :: Public Humanities Collaborative @ Michigan State University
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Scholars and Projects

MSU Projects and Initiatives

As one of the nation’s premier land-grant institutions, Michigan State University takes its responsibility to the constituencies and society it serves seriously. Its commitment to serving the public with the knowledge and resources of a major research university has led MSU to a position of a national leadership in public engagement and scholarship. Read here about some of the many projects and initiatives linking the university to the wider community.

Act One Series (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
This program features nationally touring youth theatre production companies in one-hour shows designed to educate and entertain young audiences.

African Books Collective (MSU Press)
This program is designed to raise the profile of African-published books and disseminate them more widely in North America.

Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR) (College of Arts and Letters)
The Center promotes and supports foreign language teaching and learning in the U.S. through its various projects and outreach activities.

Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (University Outreach and Engagement, and Student Services)
The Center provides curricular and co-curricular service-based learning and engagement opportunities for MSU students. Opportunities are offered that meet students’ goals while also addressing the expressed needs of the community.

Commemorative Celebration of the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives)
Events are organized which serve to expand our knowledge, honor the past, and provide numerous opportunities for members of the community to take action to bring about positive change.

Community and Industry Advisory Board (Professional Writing at MSU)
The Board is composed of professional writers and communication specialists skilled in writing in diverse media to help organizations meet the needs of their audiences.

Community Music School (MSU College of Music)
The School provides comprehensive music education—quality instruction, related music services, and educational programs—for interested individuals of all ages and levels.

Critical Studies in Literacy Pedagogy (CSLP ) (Graduate Study in Rhetoric and Writing)
This program prepares students as culturally and technologically engaged thinkers, writers, researchers, teachers, and citizens.

Design Center (Department of Art and Art History)
Design Center members work with faculty on real-world projects. Students are provided with the opportunity to work with internal and external clients in a mutually educational and professional environment.

Evening College (MSU Alumni Association)
Courses offered include "Behind The Scenes at Wharton Center."

Food, Farming and Community (MSU Museum)
The project stimulates discussion about the economic and ecological sustainability issues of contemporary agriculture. Resources include: readers' theatre script, essays on civic dialogue, doing readers' theatre and oral history, and book and film lists for programing. Research reports address developing and field testing the script. Coming fall 2008: 6 curriculum modules for the public to learn about food systems that benefit personal health, environment and local economy.

Good Health Is for Everybody (WKAR)
This initiative promotes healthy lifestyles for children and families.

Great Lakes Folk Festival (MSU Museum)
This annual event is a unique fusion of arts fair, music festival, county fair, multi-ethnic festival, hands-on activity workshops, and celebration of cultural heritage and is held in downtown East Lansing.

H-Net (hosted by MATRIX) 
(This international interdisciplinary organization of scholars and teachers is dedicated to developing the enormous potential of the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Jazz Kats (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
For grades 5-8, this program is modeled after Jazz at Lincoln Center's highly successful programs for youth.

Learning to Give (College of Education)
This innovative educational initiative seeks to pass on the traditions of a civil society to the next generation by infusing academic content about philanthropy into the core curriculum of schools.

Michigan Native Arts Initiative (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa and MSU Museum)
This initiative helps strengthen Native American arts in Michigan with the goal of finding ways to creatively increase the sharing of information between and about artists and to strengthen opportunities for support and recognition of artists.

Michigan Traditional Arts Program (MSU Museum)
This program advances cross-cultural understanding and equity in a diverse society through the documentation, preservation, and presentation of folk arts and folklife in Michigan. Please visit the MTAP Projects online.

Michigan Writers Series (MSU Libraries)
Hosted by the MSU Libraries, the Michigan Writers Series features individual Michigan writers for an evening of readings and discussion with their audience. The readings are free and open to the public, and they take place on most Friday evenings during the academic year in the Library.

One Book, One Community
This program encourages the East Lansing and Michigan State University community to read the same book over a six-week period each autumn and to come together to discuss it in a variety of settings.

Philosophy and Ethics of Health Care (Department of Philosophy and Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences)
In addition to graduate course work, this concentration offers special seminars in health care issues, practicum experiences in clinical and policy-making settings, and special opportunities for teaching and research in health care.

Potluck Video (Department of Art and Art History)
This virtual resource is a venue to encourage individuals to share creative work with others in the local and global community.

Preview Lectures (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
Free, half-hour discussions are presented prior to shows by industry experts who provide unique insight into performances.

Program for Interdisciplinary Learning through the Arts (PILA) (Department of Theatre)
This Program has teaching, research and outreach components. Its Web site provides a rich range of resources for teachers, students and parents and a place for discussion, interaction and resource sharing on the topic of arts in education.

Radio Talking Book (WKAR)
This free service provides news and information for those who are challenged by the printed word.

Ready To Learn Service (WKAR)
This service offers free materials to parents and caregivers and periodically offers free workshops in literacy and media literacy to families.

Seats 4 Kids (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
This program is a scholarship fund that provides free tickets to local youths who could not otherwise afford to attend a performing arts event.

Senior Outreach Program (Kresge Art Museum)
This program offers slide and lecture presentations of the collections and exhibitions to senior centers, service organizations, and retirement homes.

Service-Learning Writing Project (College of Arts and Letters, and Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures)
This project strengthens ties between undergraduate learning, writing instruction, and public service. In a first year course, "Public Life in America," students engage with and write for public audiences.

Small Town Design Initiative (Landscape Architecture Program)
MSU faculty and students work with communities to help them articulate a plan for their neighborhood revitalization that creates more inviting commercial districts and attractive living spaces.

Stratford Festival Artist-In-Residency Program (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
This program provides several opportunities for members of the community to share the time and talents of world-renowned artists.

Street Marketing and Outreach Team (Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
Students work closely with staff to market attractions, coordinate promotions, and help facilitate a wide variety of activities -- For more information, contact Bob Hoffman at bob.hoffman@whartoncenter.com

Theatre Symposium (Department of Theatre and the Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
Each mainstage production is accompanied by a special symposium related to an important topic or theme of the play, frequently faculty from other departments on campus and representatives from community organizations offer their special insight into the symposium topic.

Traveling Exhibition Program (MSU Museum)
This service of the Museum makes the results of its extensive research, collections, and educational programs accessible to a wider audience.

Virtual Outreach Program (MSU Museum)
This program allows teachers to provide fun and meaningful learning experiences for their students without the expense, permission forms, and geographic limitations of ordinary field trips.

Visiting Artist and Scholar Lecture Series (Department of Art and Art History)
Renowned artists are invited to talk about their art.

Young Playwrights Festival (Department of Theatre, and Wharton Center for Performing Arts)
This program encourages high school students' interest in writing and drama.

Write for Your Life (The Writing Center)
This project offered teachers and students in Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, Georgia, Texas, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania an opportunity to share their writing and thinking as they helped students examine local issues that influenced student health, literacy, and learning.


Contact Information

  • Public Humanities Collaborative
  • 119 Morrill Hall • Michigan State University • East Lansing, MI 48824
  • Phone: 517.432.3910 • Fax: 517.355.0159 • E-mail: phc at msu.edu