African Studies Center :: Faculty Directory

The Michigan State University African Studies Center has close to a hundred Core Faculty with experience on Africa, probably one of the largest in the nation. The Center features many scholars in social science, agricultural economics, African languages, the arts and humanities, education, health and medicine and many other fields.

The faculty members are listed alphabetically by college and departmental affiliation, noting geographical areas of Africa experience, and teaching and research interests.

If you are interested in becoming a part of the African Studies Center's Core Faculty, please fill out the Membership Request form.

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Marsha Macdowell

Department: Art & Art History
Email: macdowel(at)msu.edu

Biography:
I received my B.F.A, M.F.A. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University and have been employed as a curator since 1977 at the Michigan State University Museum. There, in addition to my curatorial activities, I have served as coordinator of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, a state folk art partnership of the MSU Museum and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs and the founding director of the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Within the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, I have taught courses (including summer abroad programs), regularly lectured in art history courses, and co-founded the MSU Museum Studies program where I have served as interim director, coordinator of internships, E-newsle tter editor, and as chair of the faculty advisory committee. I have curated over 30 exhibitions, some local and some international; those of note include ones at the Smithsonian Institution, American Fol k Art Museum (NYC), Nelson Mandela Museum, and many at the Michigan State University Museum. Currently I am invited curator for a national touring exhibition that will feature the recipients of the National Heritage Awards, the National Endowment for the Arts’ highest award for artists in this country. I have served in many different professional service capacities in the museum, folklore, and quilt study field, including the following: founding and current editor, H-Quilts; founding board member, The Alliance for American Quilts; past-president, American Quilt Study Group; current elected member of the Executive Board of the American Folklore Society; current member, international editorial board for Museum Anthropology; and current member, international program planning board for the 2011 South African Visual Art s Historians (SAVAH) Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art (CIHA) Colloquium at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.