When Twilight Silence Falls
On Tuesday morning when I made my way to the sacred circle, past the resilient tree, to Linton Hall there was a silence such as I had never heard before. It was not the silence…
Christopher LongFebruary 18, 2023
Return to Blogging
A new year brings new calls for a return to personal blogging as an antidote to the toxic and extractive systems of social media. Giving our attention and creative content to major social media corporations…
Christopher LongJanuary 7, 2023
Deepening Connection in a Time of Distancing
As this disquieting semester comes to a close, it’s appropriate to pause for a moment to reflect on the distance we have traveled and the path that lies ahead.
Christopher LongApril 29, 2020
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 LongApril 24, 2019
Failures to Listen
One year ago today, Rachael Denhollander addressed the Ingham County court in Michigan, her abuser, and the institutions that failed to protect her and her #SisterSurvivors. Listen again to part of what she said on…
Christopher LongJanuary 24, 2019
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 LongNovember 30, 2018
Cultivating a Culture of Trust
It has been difficult to write for the public in the months since posting the Open Letter to the College of Arts & Letters in the wake of the survivor impact statements that are transforming…
Christopher LongApril 12, 2018
Life’s Blueprints: Designing the Structure of Our Professional Lives
Last year at this time, we spoke of beginnings and routine, of resolve and the quotidian habits required to weave them into a meaningful life. We set our intention to focus on five priorities through…
Christopher LongJanuary 15, 2018
Practices of Weaving: Arts & Letters at MSU
Late last month, the faculty on the College Advisory Council (CAC) gave me a writing assignment. In preparation for our Fall 2017 faculty meeting on November 17, they asked me to take a step back…
Christopher LongNovember 14, 2017
Practicing Gratitude
Last weekend was homecoming on the Michigan State University campus, and I found myself reflecting on the meaning and significance of gratitude. So many alumni returned to campus to give thanks for all the ways…
Christopher LongOctober 24, 2017
The Emergence of Our Vision: Public Education Rooted in the Liberal Arts
This month marks the beginning of my third year as Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. When I began as Dean in 2015, I spoke about advancing the arts and humanities at the…
Christopher LongJuly 19, 2017
Beware the Jabberwocks
Lessons from the Dragon Boat None of us knew quite what to expect on Saturday as we gathered at Hawk Island for our one-hour training session for the Capital City Dragon Boat Race to support the…
Christopher LongMay 23, 2017
To Teach and Delight
The last two weeks of March this year brought sadness twice over to the College of Arts & Letters. On March 18, 2017, we lost Anna Norris, a beloved professor of French Literature who taught…
Christopher LongApril 14, 2017
Charting a Path to Intellectual Leadership, then Following It
As a junior faculty member, I attended every possible workshop on tenure and promotion I could find. Inevitably, however, as the shared wisdom of those who had successfully been tenured and promoted washed over me,…
Christopher LongMarch 14, 2017
Between Beginning and Routine
With the new year comes the deluge of resolutions. This ritual of new beginnings affords us an opportunity to begin anew, for, as the ancient proverb reminds us, “well begun is half done.” Aristotle, Politics,…
Christopher LongJanuary 15, 2017
Open Letter to the College of Arts & Letters
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: We in the College of Arts & Letters seek to advance the core values of Michigan State University — quality, inclusiveness, and connectivity — by practicing inclusion as a matter of institutional habit.…
Christopher LongNovember 12, 2016
Critical Diversity in a Digital Age
Last year we developed a strategic plan in the College of Arts & Letters that called for a cluster hire in culturally engaged digital humanities that focuses on humanities questions of race, inclusion, cultural preservation,…
Christopher LongOctober 31, 2016
Bringing Your CV to Life
Traditionally, a curriculum vitae (CV) is an articulation of one’s qualifications and accomplishments in an academic context. The Latin root of the term suggests the extent to which the CV indicates a “course of life.”…
Christopher LongSeptember 30, 2016
Finding Your Place, Leaving a Mark
Dear College of Arts & Letters Class of 2020, Welcome to Michigan State University! As you begin your journey in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, let me tell you a…
Christopher LongAugust 31, 2016
Investing in Humanities Publishing
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived at the headquarters of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C. early last week to take part in a discussion about a…
Christopher LongAugust 8, 2016
Responding to Complexity with Nuance and Grace
In the wake of last week’s violence, we have again become caught up in the fraught dichotomy into which public discourse always seems to force us. It is as if somehow the human capacity to…
Christopher LongJuly 14, 2016
MSU Shadows
A year ago today, as I began my tenure as Dean of the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University, I made reference to a passage by Peter Raible, one that draws from…
Christopher LongJuly 1, 2016
5 Things That Facilitate Academic Collaboration
Lists are the current vernacular of the internet. There is even a social media site, li.st, wholly dedicated to the creation and sharing of lists of all sorts. So, as I considered how I might…
Christopher LongJune 27, 2016
Learning to Play in a More Inclusive Key
On three different days in three different meetings, the same note was sounded. It struck a cord that resonated with me as I listened to faculty from three groups talk about their experience in the…
Christopher LongApril 25, 2016
Arts & Letters Scholars
On the surface, it appeared to be a simple question of style: should we spell out “and” or use the ampersand when referring to the College? But form and content are intertwined; no style presents…
Christopher LongMarch 3, 2016
Practicing Inclusion as a Matter of Institutional Habit
Institutions of higher education across the country have long talked about diversity and inclusion. Many have established offices of equity or inclusion and hired staff to ensure that the institution is living up to its…
Christopher LongFebruary 14, 2016
I am allergic to cynicism.
I have been owning up to this affliction in each of the introductory department meetings I have had with faculty across the College during my first semester as Dean. Of course, the more cynical among…
Christopher LongJanuary 12, 2016
Engaged Scholarship
This was initially posted on Medium as part of my Writing Along the Way project. Engaged Scholarship To speak of “applied” scholarship is to divorce theory from practice in a way that impoverishes both. This,…
Christopher LongDecember 24, 2015
Catalytic Opportunities
Continuing my experiment in public writing along the way, this post on Medium outlines the contours of what I've been thinking about as "catalytic opportunities." Catalytic Opportunities I’ve begun thinking about strategic initiatives as catalytic.…
Christopher LongDecember 11, 2015
Habits of Public Writing
This post on Medium initiates an experiment in public writing designed to facilitate transparency and refine my thinking in relation to issues I face in my role as Dean of the College of Arts and…
Christopher LongDecember 6, 2015
Paths to Explore
Last week was the first week of the fall semester at Michigan State. It was my first opportunity to welcome new students to campus as Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. In order…
Christopher LongSeptember 7, 2015
A Living Place of Education
The places we inhabit habituate us. The virtues they cultivate are grounded in the values they embody. In 1855, a natural opening in the oak forest of the Burr farm was selected as a fitting…
Christopher LongJuly 28, 2015
The Edge of the Oak Opening
As I begin my tenure as Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University I find myself thinking of these lines adapted from Deuteronomy 6:10-12 by Peter Raible: "We build on…
Christopher LongJuly 1, 2015
