Wayne State University to bestow honorary degrees at commencement ceremonies Wayne State University’s 153rd academic year will culminate in the May 2022 commencement ceremonies, where honorary degrees will be bestowed upon the Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony, spiritual leader and community activist; Stevland Hardaway Morris (Stevie Wonder), singer-songwriter and musician; Gurmale Singh Grewal, builder and developer; Timothy Meadows, actor and comedian; and William Scott Prady, TV writer and producer. | | Hasan Elahi named dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts World-renowned visual artist Hasan Elahi will assume his role as the next dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts (CFPCA) July 1, 2022. His appointment was unanimously approved by the Wayne State University Board of Governors. This marks a homecoming of sorts for Elahi, who earned his master of fine arts in printmaking from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He will come to Detroit from George Mason University, where he is currently a professor and director of the George Mason School of Art. | | WSU grad student shows it's never too late to get degree(s) Ta’Shara Francis-Brown is currently working on her second master’s degree from Wayne State, but there was a time when she wasn’t quite sure if she would ever earn a bachelor’s. She first enrolled at Wayne State in 2009, but took some time off and started a family, having two sons — Carter in 2011 and Cruz in 2014. With encouragement from her aunt and grandmother, Francis-Brown enrolled in online classes while pregnant with Carter and graduated from Wayne State in 2015 with a bachelor’s in sociology. | | Sandra M. Gonzales named Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year Sandra M. Gonzales, associate professor of bilingual/bicultural education at Wayne State University, has been honored as one of three recipients of the Michigan Distinguished Professor of the Year award, which recognizes the outstanding contributions and dedication exhibited by faculty from Michigan’s 15 public universities to the education of undergraduate students. The Academic Affairs Officers committee of the Michigan Association of State Universities will celebrate the nominees and recipients of this annual award April 15, 2022, during a luncheon at the Lansing Center. The other two winners are Central Michigan University Professor Carl Lee and Michigan State University Associate Professor Vashti Sawtelle. | | Amplifying their voices: Graduate research explores experiences of women in the military Fatooma Saad views her research as a potential change agent for military service members balancing their careers and families. Saad, a master’s student in the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, has focused her thesis on exploring the experiences and retention-related decisions of women in the military. The topic is of great personal interest to Saad, who is veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and whose husband is a retired Marine. | | |