The College of Arts & Letters recognized its 2024 Faculty Award winners for their outstanding leadership, teaching, innovation, and community engagement as well as the impact they have made to enhance curriculum and student experiences.
The 2024 Faculty Award winners are:
- Arthur Versluis – Paul Varg Alumni Award
- Senta Goertler – Faculty Leadership Award
- Natasha Jones – Faculty Award for Innovation and Leadership
- Kate Fedewa O’Connor – Fixed Term Faculty/Academic Specialist Leadership Excellence Award
- Kirk Astle – Community Partner Award
- Laura Cloud – Legacy Lecture Award
This year’s Faculty Award winners were honored during the College of Arts & Letters 2024 Faculty and Staff Welcome Reception held on Sept. 30 at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.
Paul Varg Alumni Award
Arthur Versluis, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, is this year’s recipient of the Paul Varg Award, which recognizes College of Arts & Letters faculty who challenge students intellectually; maintain a national reputation in their field; provide service to the college, university, and community; and is the consummate professional. The award is named after Paul Varg, the first dean of the college who was a respected teacher, researcher, and administrator.
Versluis was nominated by Amy DeRogatis, Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, who wrote: “For more than 25 years, Arthur Versluis has been making major contributions to scholarship, service, and teaching in the College of Arts & Letters and beyond. Given his exceptional research, his international scholarly reputation, his record of teaching, and his outstanding service and outreach, Dr. Versluis is an obvious choice for this honor.”
In her nomination, DeRogatis also included positive responses from students about Dr. Versluis with one student writing, “This class has been a captivating and illuminating expedition into religious diversity.” Another wrote, “As the semester draws to a close, I wanted to express my heartfelt gratitude for the intellectually and spiritually stimulating journey that your course on Western esotericism has offered. The past few months have been nothing short of transformative.”
Versluis specializes in American Transcendentalism, Asian religions, and Christian theosophy. His scholarship includes numerous books on Western esotericism, such as Theosophia and Magic and Mysticism, the latter inspired by a popular course he developed at MSU. He also is editor of the Journal for the Study of Radicalism and has written on American religious movements, with recent titles including American Gnosis (2024). In addition to his academic work, he is the founding president of Hieros, a nonprofit organization exploring the sacred in contemporary life.
Faculty Leadership Award
Senta Goertler, Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures, is this year’s recipient of the Faculty Leadership Award, which rewards College of Arts & Letters faculty who demonstrate outstanding leadership — the kind who go beyond the performance of routine tasks, are generous in sharing insights, and provide the hard work and mentoring that creates vision and excellence in programs and departments.
Yen-Hwei Lin, Interim Dean of the College of Arts & Letters, nominated Goertler for the award. In her nomination, Lin wrote: “As a remarkable educator, researcher, and leader, Senta has developed creative language curriculum and pedagogical approaches, mentored teaching assistants and fixed-term faculty with skill and compassion, and efficiently managed a myriad of committee and administrative tasks. I have seen her blossoming into a highly capable and visionary faculty leader with a strong moral compass who has made impactful institutional contributions.”
Goertler’s nomination was supported by Suzanne Evans Wagner, Associate Professor of Linguistics; Matt Handelman, Associate Professor of German; and Kathryn McEwen, Assistant Professor of German. They wrote: “Senta is a model of the kind of leadership we should recognize and amplify for its contribution to the college’s culture of care. Her generous leadership, mentorship, and advocacy for all members of our department, especially nontenure-stream faculty, have been truly transformative.”
Goertler currently serves as the co-editor of Second Language Research and Practice and is a Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow. Her research focuses on technology-mediated language learning (e.g. computer-mediated communication, online education, etc.) and co-curricular language learning (e.g. education abroad, service learning, etc.). Many of her research questions developed out of her experience as a language teacher in a variety of contexts and delivery formats (online, hybrid, face-to-face) and her experience as program administrator. In addition to language courses Goertler teaches courses on second language acquisition and language pedagogy.
Faculty Award for Innovation and Leadership
Natasha Jones, Associate Professor in the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), is this year’s recipient of the Faculty Award for Innovation and Leadership, which recognizes a College of Arts & Letters faculty member who utilizes innovative practices in the classroom, finds engaging ways to integrate scholarship and teaching, and provides rich opportunities for experiential learning beyond the classroom setting.
Jones was nominated by Ruth Nicole Brown, Professor and Chair of the Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), and Dànielle Nicole DeVoss, Professor and Chair of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures.
Brown wrote: “Beyond course instruction, students can expect Dr. Jones to be a mentor, role model, and facilitator of affirmative experiences in and outside of the classroom. In addition to moving students through course content and assignments with efficiency, Dr. Jones will make additional time and expend extra energy to review student application materials for co-curicular activities, provide professional development advising, and to share life lessons that inspire students to be their best and wisest selves. In AAAS, students are our greatest why. I am enlivened by Dr. Jones’ commitment to teaching and learning our students so that they grow in the curiosity for reading, receive important literacy skills, and know fully the power of their written and spoken words.”
DeVoss wrote: “A solution-oriented individual, Dr. Jones’ willingness to teach above and beyond what is expected was matched (if not outdone) by students’ enthusiasm about her instruction. It is a usual occurrence for students to drop by my office for the sole purpose of sharing with me how much they are enjoying the courses taught by Dr. Jones. I do not take these informal student evaluations of Dr. Jones for granted. They praise her for her accessibility, the way she encourages them to think critically, and for advancing their reading and writing practices — in some cases igniting a love for books that previously did not exist.”
Jones is a technical communication scholar and co-author of the book Technical Communication after the Social Justice Turn: Building Coalitions for Action, which won the 2021 CCCC Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication. Her research interests include social justice, narrative, and technical communication pedagogy. She holds herself especially accountable to Black women and femmes and systemically marginalized communities. She strives to always center the narratives and experiences of those at the margins in her scholarship. Her work has been published in several journals including, Technical Communication Quarterly, the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, and the Journal of Business and Technical Communication. She is the Immediate Past President for the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW).
Fixed Term Faculty/Academic Specialist Leadership Excellence Award
Kate Fedewa O’Connor, Academic Specialist in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures (WRAC), is this year’s recipient of the Fixed-Term Faculty/Academic Specialist Leadership Excellence Award, which recognizes fixed-term faculty and academic specialists who demonstrate leadership excellence, making a substantive impact in their college unit. Award winners foster excellence, encourage others on their own path to intellectual leadership, and enhance diversity across the college.
Fedewa O’Conner was nominated by Casey McArdle, Assistant Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures, and Director of Experience Architecture, who wrote: “Dr. Fedewa has provided consistent and guiding leadership for students and faculty throughout her time at Michigan State University. She is dedicated to helping students and faculty find their individual areas of strength through custom assignments, regular meetings, and her leadership as an Associate Chair. She provides unique and enriching experiences for students and faculty to creatively connect with department curriculum and university-wide initiatives. She also meets with faculty and advisers to share her insights and offer support through workshops, professional development moments, and strategic planning to better support students and the WRAC undergraduate studies programs as a whole.”
McArdle went on to write: “Through initiatives such as the Experimental Studio Teaching Model and the Professional and Public Writing Assessment, she has continually pushed the boundaries of traditional pedagogy, resulting in enhanced student learning outcomes. Her collaborative approach to curriculum development and assessment has set a precedent for excellence within the department and beyond.”
Fedewa O’Connor teaches First Year Writing, Professional Writing, Experience Architecture, and the Gifted and Talented program at Michigan State University. She’s also the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies in WRAC. Her interest in rhetoric and identity formation inform her research and teaching. She is currently researching learner-centered writing pedagogy in non-traditional and digital spaces, multimodal participatory storytelling in tabletop gaming, and the rhetoric of medievalism.
Community Partner Award
Kirk Astle, Assistant Professor in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures, is this year’s recipient of the Community Partner Award, which recognizes a faculty member’s community contributions at the local, state, national and or global/world levels. It recognizes participation, student mentorship and overall leadership, as well as significant involvement as is reflected in one or more community engagement activities. This award is linked to the college’s mission to “enrich community, economic, and family life.”
Astle was nominated by Joyce Meier, Associate Director of the First-Year Writing Program and Associate Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and Cultures, who wrote: “Based on his stellar leadership of WriteOn! (WRAC’s distinctive prison writing project), I enthusiastically endorse Dr. Kirk Astle’s nomination for the CAL Community Partner Award. Kirk’s mentorship of the students in this course has already been stellar. I have now heard from numerous Professional and Public Writing majors, for example, about just how powerful the class discussions and readings have been, and how transformative the course is overall. Some of these students have expressed strong interest in not just facilitating writing in a prison setting in the future, but in making such work a continuing part of their professional goals through nonprofit leadership.”
Meier went on to write: “Perhaps not surprisingly, Kirk is also a humble individual who expresses ongoing interest and willingness to learn from others. This quality makes him an especially apt candidate for this award, as his distinctive openness to others’ experiences across lines of difference is a key component of any successful community project. It is a tribute to Kirk and to his admirable lead-by-listening skills that he managed to get the WriteOn! initiative off the ground in the first place. In many respects the program is already a success, in terms of how skillfully Kirk has mentored his current students to be socially responsible community leaders in the future.”
Astle analyzes power formations through literary analyses of fictional representations as well as rhetorical analyses of non-fictional and professional texts. Having (re)written policies and curricula to accommodate growing levels of scale and greater accessibility, as well as to eradicate exclusionary educational practices whether conscious or unconsciously crafted, Astle finds oppressive formations can be eroded and replaced with increasing degrees of effective, constructive, and just discourses and practices.
Legacy Lecture Award
Laura Cloud, Emeritum Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design (AAHD), is this year’s Legacy Lecture Award recipient. Established in 2021 by the College of Arts & Letters Culture of Care Retirement Subcommittee, the Legacy Lecture Award recognizes one faculty member each year for their contributions to the College of Arts & Letters and the community. Honorees deliver a 60-minute lecture they have always wanted to give that focuses on their creative work and research.
Cloud was nominated for this award by Rob Roznowski, Professor of Theatre and Head of Acting and Directing in the Department og Theatre, who wrote: “I worked most closely with Associate Professor Cloud on the inaugural (ad hoc and later standing) Dean’s Art Advisory Committee. In our three years in creating the committee and weathering the pandemic, I found Laura to be an amazing arts advocate for student learning. The committee created several new initiatives and offered great insight into the long-delayed MSU Arts Strategy and how it might impact faculty and students at MSU. She was a vocal presence on the committee and offered great insights into the needs and wants of faculty and students from AAHD.”
Rozonwski also wrote: “Her international work is another reason for my nomination for this recognition. Her use of mixed media has been recognized in Italy and Greece and other places across the globe. I find her artwork compelling and fascinating.”
