NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 21, 2010
CONTACT: ERIKA MARZORATI
517/432-6848, marzorat@law.msu.edu
MSU Law Awarded Michigan Humanities Council Grant
East Lansing, MI — Michigan State University College of Law is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of a $15,000 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. The grant will support the mid-November production of a play written by Sandra Seaton, MSU Law's inaugural writer in residence, and a corresponding symposium. This marks the first time since 1978 that the Michigan Humanities Council has awarded a major grant to a law school.
Seaton's play will focus on African American students at a Midwestern university during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It will be jointly sponsored by the MSU College of Law, James Madison College, and the MSU Department of Theatre. The Black Law Students Association and other student groups will help facilitate the project. The follow-up symposium, which will be open to the entire University community, will examine the treatment of moral and legal issues in Seaton's plays and other dramatic works.
The MSU Law Writer in Residence Program is coordinated by University-wide Professor Nicholas Mercuro, who teaches Law and Economics and manages art-related projects at the Law College. The residency is an outgrowth of a series of art exhibitions Mercuro has helped acquire for display at MSU Law over the past nine years, all touching on themes involving law and justice. Professor Mercuro will administer the Michigan Humanities Council grant.
"We are honored to receive this Michigan Humanities Council grant to help support the activities of our first writer in residence," Professor Mercuro said. "The Council's financial support will be a great boost in our efforts to present Sandra Seaton's work as a unique lens through which the MSU Law community can consider legal issues and engage in the arts."
The Michigan Humanities Council, whose goal is to connect people and communities by fostering and creating quality cultural programs, is the state's affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Michigan State University College of Law is a leading institution of legal education with a long history of creating practice-ready attorneys. As one of only a few private law schools affiliated with a major research university, MSU Law offers comprehensive interdisciplinary opportunities combined with a personalized legal education. After 100 years as a private and independent institution, the affiliation with MSU has put the Law College on an upward trajectory of national and international reputation and reach. MSU Law professors are gifted teachers and distinguished scholars, its curriculum is rigorous and challenging, and its facility is equipped with the latest resources—all affirming MSU Law's commitment to educating 21st-century lawyers.
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