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Christopher Long

This is an allegorical image. Against a beige background is the front of a building with pillars in slightly darker beige. Layered on top is a white image of the head, elongated neck, shoulders and upper torso of a person. The head is turned to the right with the outline of hair in a bun. Green, plant-like shapes grow behind the torso, in front of the building. A red heart-shaped heart is superimposed on the chest area of the torso. Three lines extend from the heart each connected to a beige rectangle. The rectangle on the left is almost square, with an icon of an open book in black. On the top right is a rectangle with a line graph with a single line going down and up. Middle right is a rectangle with black musical notes beginning with a treble clef. Five stylized human figures are in the foreground. Moving left to right, a Black woman with wavy black hair in a light pink sweater and dark pants with a red briefcase walks toward the heart. Sitting on the shoulder of the torso is a white woman with brown hair in a light brown top and brown pants reading a red book. There is a white man with brown hair in a white lab coat holding a clipboard in front of the heart. To his right is an Asian woman with shoulder length black hair with a stethoscope in a light brown top and dark brown pants listening to the heart. On the right is a Black man in a pink shirt and light brown pants and a dark brown pork pie hat. He has a conductor's baton and is pointing to the musical notes.
Education

Wholeness in a Torn World

To reweave ourselves into community, reconnect ourselves with our purpose, and realign university values with institutional practice, we need to create structures and cultivate habits that reinforce the work that gives our personal and institutional…
Christopher Long
February 5, 2023
Selfie on stage at the Kellogg Center after the 43rd MLK Dinner at which LeConté Dill gave the keynote. The selfie is taken by Chris Long, who is on the left, with, from left to right, Ruth Nicole Brown, LeConté Dill, Chamara Kwakye, Gianina Strother, and Yvonne Morris. In the background are rows of empty round tables with white tablecloths and black chairs around them.
DeanThe Long Road

Power, Love, Justice, and Joy

Since Thursday, I have been reflecting on the powerful keynote address Professor LeConté Dill gave at the 43rd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Unity Dinner. Drawing on King's insistence that "ower, properly understood, is…
Christopher Long
January 14, 2023
African and African American Studies students standing in a row, from left to right: Amber McAddley, Morgan Braswell, Jhala Martin, and Ayodele Uhuru. They are listening to Jhala read from a piece of paper with a microphone in her hand. Photo by Ryan Frederick.
DeanEducation

A Place of Wholeness

Last week we celebrated the Ascension of the Department of African American and African Studies in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University. What follows are my remarks emphasizing the hope that…
Christopher Long
November 21, 2022
Field of wild flowers
Presentations

Values-Enacted Leadership

The themes of the 2022 Honors Leadership Conference were: Building Community, Being a Scholar, and Presenting Yourself. In my opening remarks to our first-year honors students, I focused on values-enacted leadership and the importance of…
Christopher Long
March 20, 2022
Ted Loder looking to his right with a joyful smile on his face, with Jan Filing, his wife looking on from behind and out of focus.
LivingThe Long Road

The Art of Procrastination

On September 12, 2021, we remembered the life and legacy of Ted Loder, my stepfather, and long-time Senior Minister at First United Methodist Church of Germantown. In collaboration with my step-siblings, we created the montage…
Christopher Long
September 14, 2021
Ted Loder making a point, and pointing his finger. Joy on his face.
LivingThe Long Road

Love One Another

Ted Loder, eloquent preacher, fierce advocate for justice, long-time minister of the First United Methodist Church in Germantown, and my beloved stepfather, died on Thursday, April 1, 2021. Ted always encouraged us to watch for…
Christopher Long
April 4, 2021
The Long Road

On Ethical Candor

There is a line from Seinfeld that cuts to the heart of the distinction between sincerity and ethical candor. In a desperate attempt to beat a polygraph machine, Jerry turns to George, a practiced liar,…
Christopher Long
November 28, 2020
American Flags lined up against a yellow building
Civic LifeDean

Register to Vote

On National Voter Registration Day, I sent the following message to students, staff, and faculty in the College of Arts & Letters. Dear College of Arts & Letters Students, Staff, and Faculty, As we navigate…
Christopher Long
September 22, 2020
"Hora Quasi Umbra" text on a Sundial
The Long Road

No Quality Without Equity

In October 2019, I attended a three-day workshop on Driving Institutional Change for Research Assessment Reform jointly convened by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) and the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) on the beautiful HHMI campus in Chevy Chase,…
Christopher Long
November 9, 2019
Aerial view of the center of MSU campus with intersecting pathways and trees.
DeanThe Long Road

Catalyst of Collaboration

On September 26, 2019, I had the opportunity to address the Michigan State University President’s Council, which includes the Deans Council and the Executive Leadership of the University, about the values-based strategic planning process we…
Christopher Long
October 7, 2019
Connected Ropes
Dean

Toward a Culture of Care

In the summer of 2018, a group of MSU Deans came together to write an essay that was published in Inside Higher Education under the title: "Can Michigan State Recover and Chart a New Path…
Christopher Long
April 24, 2019
The Long Road

Recognizing Peer Review

In June of 2018, I held a short workshop about the HuMetricsHSS initiative with colleagues attending the 2018 Summer Seminar - East gathering of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages that was meeting at…
Christopher Long
March 13, 2019
Linton Hall Through A Glass Ball
Dean

Living Values

In the open letter we wrote to the College of Arts & Letters community in January 2018, we promised to look critically at ourselves, recognize our failures, and rebuild the trust that is required of…
Christopher Long
November 30, 2018
Six Images of Resilience
Dean

2018 Dean’s Report – Resilience

Dear College of Arts & Letters Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Friends, For generations, the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University have demonstrated the capacity…
Christopher Long
November 16, 2018