Awards for Advancing Inclusion through Research Won by Two RCAH Students

January 18, 2021

By Chrystel Lopez '22

• For a fourth consecutive year, RCAH students are recognized.

• Winners will be recognized February 24, following the MSU Excellence in Diversity Award Program (details below).

• Sponsored by MSU’s three residential colleges and the Honors College.

Two RCAH students, Matthew Miller and Kaylee McCarthy, have received prizes in the Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing Inclusion through Research Awards. Miller, a sophomore with a dual major in RCAH and Russian, won second place and McCarthy, majoring in RCAH, art history, and German, received an honorable mention. 

The award is designed to promote and recognize student research and creative projects that explore topics surrounding diversity, inclusion, and issues regarding marginalized communities.

“Matthew Miller and Kaylee McCarthy’s commitment to advancing inclusion exemplifies RCAH’s mission to produce graduates who use their gifts and talents to work toward achieving positive, community transformation, and wellbeing throughout the world,” said Kevin Brooks, RCAH Academic Specialist for Diversity and Civic Engagement and member of the MLK Jr. Research Awards committee.

For his research, Miller said he was inspired by incidents of police brutality and systemic injustice that Black Americans have been subjected to for centuries. He used his research to explore reparations for Black communities in the United States.

“My paper specifically advocates for symbolic forms of reparations,” Miller said, “such as removing and replacing monuments and memorials, reimagining our national symbols, and renaming public spaces to honor the legacies of Black Americans rather than those who have oppressed, terrorized, and committed cultural genocide against the Black community.”

Miller donated his prize money of $500 to the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to people that have been illegally convicted or abused in state prisons as well as providing education surrounding racial injustice.

“While I am very honored to receive this award, I recognize that my white privilege has given me countless advantages in my education and ultimately made it possible for me to win this award. I have no intention of profiting off of this research for my own personal gain,” Miller said. 

McCarthy’s project was based on her art history senior thesis, focusing on Cuban artist and activist Tania Bruguera’s Immigrant Movement International. 

“I was really interested in how activism functioned within the art world and how socially engaged art differed from non-art-based activism and community programs,” McCarthy said. 

“I was really honored to be recognized by the MLK Jr. Advancing Inclusion through Research Award committee,” she continued. “It’s encouraging to know that this research resonates and that I can advocate for inclusion in the art world and amplify the voices of artists working towards social and political change.”

Winners will be recognized at the virtual Martin Luther King Jr. Advancing Inclusion through Research Awards Program at 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, February 24, 2021. The awards ceremony immediately follows the MSU Excellence in Diversity Award Program. Register here to attend. A Zoom link and passcode will be emailed following registration.

“This year’s prize winners were selected from a collection of competitive and engaging submissions,” said Brooks. “Their research projects expressed a dedication to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion and exemplified MSU’s renewed commitment to inclusive excellence.”

This is the fourth year in a row that RCAH students have won awards and the second consecutive year in which two RCAH students have won.

Winners for 2020 include:

1st Prize, $600:

Janet Ibarra, Senior, James Madison College, Honors College, and the College of Social Science: How the Trump Presidency Has Affected Latinx Undergraduates? 

 

2nd Prize, $500:

Matthew Miller, Junior, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, Honors College, and the College of Arts and Letters: Reflections on Symbolic Repair for the Black Community in the United States

 

3rd Prize, $300:

Madison Nacker, Senior, James Madison College and Honors College: Queering Migrant Communities: Identity Building and Activism for LGBTQI+ Migrants

 

Honorable Mention, $200:

Kaylee McCarthy, Senior, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, Honors College, and the College of Arts and Letters: Useful and Temporary Art: Redefining Art’s Role in a Commodified World through Tania Bruguera’s Immigrant Movement International

The award was created in 2010 to highlight the ways in which MSU students follow Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, using their critical and creative skills to understand and re-envision the world. Student research and creative projects that explore topics surrounding diversity, inclusion, and issues regarding marginalized communities were considered if they were completed in 2020 and submitted by students in the MSU Honors College, James Madison College, Lyman Briggs College, and/or the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities.

 

The Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University is a unique learning community offering the advantages of a small college liberal arts education and the opportunities of a major university. Students prepare for meaningful careers by examining critical issues through the lens of culture, the visual and performing arts, community engagement, literature, philosophy, history, writing, and social justice. RCAH’s 100% placement rate for graduates over the past six years is the best at MSU. Visit rcah.msu.edu, email rcah@msu.edu, or call 517-355-0210.

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