Happy New Year! Welcome to the winter 2024 semester! I hope that you and your families and friends enjoyed the holidays. It is so exciting to welcome our faculty and students back to campus! Open up your calendars to plan on attending some of our outstanding College of Liberal Arts & Education (CLAE) events and getting involved with certain initiatives and projects highlighted in this and upcoming newsletters. Our CLAE community is as strong as the diversity and participation of each of its members.
As we kick off the winter 2024 semester, certain major initiatives and projects are moving forward at a steady pace. The CLAE Strategic Planning Taskforce is now in place and will begin meeting later this month. The search for a new assistant dean for student academic affairs is underway. CLAE received approval for three faculty hires. The Blackbox Theatre Project has moved from conceptual approval to final architectural renderings, which will enable us to shift our fundraising campaign into full swing. Two Titan Innovation Awards were given to CLAE faculty, bringing new initiatives to the College and the University. Learn more at the College meeting on Friday, Jan. 26, from 2-3:30 p.m. in the College of Health Professions, Room 124 – a happy hour will follow.
Check out just some of CLAE’s events this semester and be sure to share them with our students. To get started, the popular Triptych virtual author series hosted by our English Department will begin in January. Photograph 51 will make its Michigan premiere next month with performances on Feb. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18. For Black History Month, join the online conversation with Margaret Burnham, professor at Northeastern University School of Law, about her recent book, By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executions on Feb. 5 from 7- 8:30 p.m. On Feb. 14, attend a Black History Month reception followed by a presentation by Ilyon Woo, New York Times best-selling author of Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom. Keep an eye out for more events featured in this newsletter throughout the semester.
CLAE is certainly on the move! The energy and enthusiasm of our faculty, staff, students, alumni and community partners propel us forward as we maintain our unwavering commitment to excellence in liberal arts education. Keep up the great work! Thank you for your dedication to our shared College vision and mission.