College of Liberal Arts
2025 CLA Awards
The 2025 CLA Awards will be held on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM in the MT Center (inside Sam Ingram Building).
Faculty Awards
Dr. Andrew Fialka
Fialka has been at MTSU since 2018, teaching courses on American History, the Civil War & Reconstruction, Guerrilla War, GIS for Humanists, and Historical Research Methods. His initial research used spatial analyses in GIS to study guerrilla violence during the American Civil War and he built the field’s first maps of the southern insurgency and U.S. counterinsurgency. In 2012, he worked as a National Park Service seasonal park ranger at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park. Those experiences with data visualization and public history led him to experiment with creative forms of knowledge dissemination, ultimately manifesting as the graphic history Hope Never to See It: A Graphic History of Guerrilla Violence during the American Civil War (University of Georgia Press, 2025).
Dr. Christoph Rosenmüller
Christoph Rosenmüller is a professor of Latin American history at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He is currently writing a legal history of the Spanish Empire. His latest book Viceroy Güemes’s Mexico: Rituals, Religion, and Revenue came out in March 2024 with the University of New Mexico Press. His second monograph Corruption and Justice in Colonial Mexico (Cambridge University Press, 2019), won the 2020 Alfred B. Thomas Award of the South-Eastern Council for Latin American Studies for best book on any Latin American subject. He has received several fellowships, among the two Fulbrights, and has served as visiting scholar at the University of Graz in Austria, the University of Münster in Germany, the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt, Germany, and the College of Mexico (El Colegio de México) in Mexico City.
Dr. Oscar Diaz
Professor Oscar Díaz has been a valued member of the MTSU Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (WLL&C) faculty for 27 years. He earned his B.A. in Philology and Languages in his native Colombia, where he began his career as an educator at both the elementary and high school levels. Seeking to further his academic journey, he moved to the United States for graduate studies, earning an M.A. from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. in Spanish and Hispanic Cultural Studies from Arizona State University.
Throughout his tenure, Professor Díaz has made significant contributions to teaching within his field. His unwavering dedication to student success is evident in his role as the designer and leader of study abroad programs through KISS, TNCIS, and MTSU’s signature initiatives. In addition to his teaching, he serves as the director and advisor for the interdisciplinary minor in Latin American Studies, and he advises two prestigious foreign language honor societies: Sigma Delta Pi, the Hispanic Honor Society, and Pi Sigma Iota, the Foreign Languages Honor Society.
Dr. James Chaney
Dr. Chaney is a cultural geographer in the Department of Political and Global Affairs, specializing in immigrant and refugee populations in the American South. His research employs qualitative methods, with a focus on participant observation, which he integrates into his teaching through experiential learning activities that engage students with diverse ethnic and cultural communities. Dr. Chaney considers mentoring central to his role, dedicating time to guiding students’ academic growth, career development, and personal success. An advocate for community engagement, Dr. Chaney previously served as associate director of a nonprofit organization empowering Latin American immigrants in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors for Free For Life International, an anti-trafficking organization based in Nashville, Tennessee, where he co-led trafficking prevention programs in Latin America and the United States. Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors for Nashville’s United Nations chapter, Cordell Hull.
Dr. Ron Kates
For 27 years at MTSU, Dr. Ron Kates has built a career rooted in student-centered learning and community engagement. From the Jefferson Springs Project in 2000 to the Keeping the Night Train Rolling mural in 2004, he has led dozens of experiential learning projects that connect students with real-world opportunities. As an outgrowth of these efforts, he developed for-credit teaching internships that offer pre-service educators valuable classroom experience, and as a leader in MTSU’s American Democracy Project, he helped students engage across campuses and at national conferences. Building on his efforts with area educators, he spent a decade as Director of the Middle Tennessee Writing Project, during which time he led two major grants supporting teacher development in four rural counties.
Throughout the above academic lives, advising has remained a constant—over the years he has advised more than a thousand English majors and minors, offering guidance, connection, and consistent support.
Dr. Kates’s philosophy has been shaped by the wisdom of mentors: the need to reinvent as a teacher, the importance of leaving a meaningful footprint, and the power of working closely with students. Through every initiative, he remains committed to helping students succeed and to making a lasting impact, one student at a time.
Victoria Richarson
Victoria Richardson is so happy and stunned to be receiving this wonderful honor! She is the Executive Assistant for the graduate program in the History Department and is as happy as a clam to be in that role! She loves her job in the history department and all her wonderful faculty and students, always eager to help in any way that she can to make their academic lives as smooth as possible. When not at work, she is usually out and about somewhere or doing something as she has far too many hobbies, from art to audio engineering to D&D, and simply can’t sit still for too long! If ever you need someone to listen or to chat with, she’s your gal. She’s more than happy to hear you talk about the things you love and if you have a few hours, she’ll gush about her interests (Disney Theme Park History, Cruise Liners, Marvel Comics), too! Often completely unprompted! Whatever your passion, she’s always ready to listen and one of her greatest joys is to make someone smile and hopes to be able to make many more people smile in the years to come! 🙂
2024-25 Scholarship Recipients
Outstanding Students
The following students were identified as the 2025 Outstanding Student for their department/program. The overall 2025 CLA Outstanding Student honorees will be announced during the CLA Awards Program.
Undergraduate Students (Listed by Department/Program)
Rada Elizabeth Ryan
Rada Elizabeth Ryan, (Rabeth) is a Visual Arts major, with minors in Criminal Investigation and Honors. Her future plans include pursuing a Master’s and/or Doctorate’s Degree and working for the local or state level government as a sketch artist. She is a member of several MTSU student organizations including the Student Art Alliance and has published her artwork in Collage (Fall 2024). In addition to the Dean’s List, Rabeth has received awards and honors from the Tennessee Collegiate Honors Conference (2024, 3rd Place Essay Competition), MTSU Scholars Week (2024 3rd Place Winner), membership in Gamma Phi Beta, the 2023 Governor’s Youth Star Volunteer Award, and a full scholarship for Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts (2021).
Savannah Brewer
Savannah Brewer is a senior majoring in communication studies with a concentration in culture and social influence. Savannah has held various leadership positions on campus, including Student Orientation Assistant, Communication Studies Club President, Communication Studies Department Intern, and serving as a Peer Career Ambassador at the Career Development Center while maintaining a 4.0 GPA. She also was one of two college of liberal arts students to participate in the 2024 cohort of the Institute of Excellence. In these positions, Savannah has proven her recruitment and marketing abilities to improve further the lives of future and current MTSU students. She has been the Articulation and Transfer Intern for the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, working closely with Tennessee’s transfer initiatives and as the point of contact for large convenings. Savannah is dedicated to the importance of research and higher education. In September 2024, she received an “Outstanding Undergraduate Paper” award at the Tennessee Communication Association conference. She is currently in the process of publishing two articles relating to the hegemony of lesbians. After graduation, Savannah strives to continue her education and pursue her Master’s in Communication Studies to take the necessary steps to become a Communication Studies professor.
Brennon Osborne
Brennon Osborne is a senior English major with a concentration in Linguistics. He has been fascinated with language and literature since a young age, from making up fictional languages to reading the classics. After years of working in restaurants and many bumps along the way, he pursued his college dreams, first at Motlow State Community College and then at MTSU. Next to his son, being a scholar of literature and linguistics is his greatest passion in life. He hopes to make his passion his career by going on to graduate school. He has loved his time at MTSU and is externally grateful for his professors who challenged and help transform him. For his outstanding performance across the English curriculum, Brennon was received the Richard C. and Virginia L. Peck Award, the top award in the MTSU Department of English.
Aisha Karamustafic
Aisha Karamustafic graduated magna cum laude from MTSU with a major in History and minors in Political Science and Journalism. She just began a masters program in Public History at MTSU. She recently presented “Enhancing Career Exploration and Professional Skill Development through Experimental Learning: A Case Study of MT Korean Club’s activity,” at the Association for Career and Technical Education’s CareerTech Vision 2024 in San Antonio, Texas. She will also be presenting “Empowering Academic and Career Success through Cultural and Language-Focused Extracurricular Activities: A Case Study of a Korean Club in a U.S. College,” at the International Technology, Education and Development Conference in Valencia, Spain this March. Karamustafic is an active participant in the Murfreesboro community where she is involved both on and off campus in various student organizations. She enjoys spending her free time volunteering for the Rutherford County Archives and her local church. She is looking forward to continuing her studies in public history through her graduate program and her time with the Center for Historic Preservation, where she hopes she can help people connect with history and grow together in understanding.
Christina Vongsiharath
Christina Vongsiharath is a senior Music Industry major with a minor in Finance. She completed her Honors Thesis on the musical cultures of Laos in Fall 2024 under the guidance of Dr. Mei Han. Christina is an officer of MTSU’s Collegiate DECA and Economics Club and a member of the School of Music Student Advisory Council, Clarinet Choir, Chinese Music Ensemble, International Clarinet Association, American Marketing Association, Financial Management Association, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She has a passion for ethnomusicology, traveling to perform in Xiamen and Beijing, China with the Chinese Music Ensemble and studying abroad in Vienna, Austria during her MTSU studies.
Matthew Pierce
Matthew Pierce is a dual degree student pursuing a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.S. in Religious Studies. He presented Religious Studies papers at the 2024 CLA Scholar’s Day, the 2024 Tennessee Social Science Symposium, and the 2024 Implicit Religion US Conference. He is Co-President of the MTSU Religious Studies Association and member of the MTSU Philosophy Club, MTLambda, MTSU YDSA, MTSU S.A.F.E., North American Association for the Study of Religion (NAASR), and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). Matthew is also a member of the MTSU Honors College and recently completed his thesis defense. He has a forthcoming publication in the Journal of Beliefs and Values titled Transcending the Track: NASCAR as Implicit Religious Deconstruction. He is a Team Leader in the Library Technology Department. He has made the Dean’s List five semesters consecutively and holds a 3.62 GPA. He is currently in his final semester at MTSU and hopes to go on to an M.A. program in Religious Studies.
Victoria Grigsby
Victoria Grigsby is a senior at Middle Tennessee State University and first-generation student from Fayetteville, Tennessee double majoring in Political Science and Foreign Languages: Applied German, alongside minors in Economics and University Honors. She is an Honors Buchanan Fellow, currently researching her thesis tentatively titled “Right-wing Populism in International Relations: Theory of Revisionism through Global Case Studies” under the advisement of Dr. Jon DiCicco of the Political and Global Affairs (PGA) department. On campus, she has served as President of the American Democracy Project, for which she was recognized on the national ALL IN 2024 Student Voting Honor Roll, a Senator and committee Co-chair in the Student Government Association, Secretary of the Mock Trial Association, and a tutor for the PGA department. Additionally, she has served 2 years as a Blue Elite tour guide for MTSU Admissions and 1 year as a College of Liberal Arts student emissary. Alongside researching her honors thesis, she has presented research twice, representing MTSU at AASCU’s annual Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement (CLDE) conference in Boston for the project titled “Inspiring Us, Compelling Us: Historic Tennessee Women’s Stories Push Students to Action” in 2023 and leading research in 2024 for “Know Your Ballot 2024: Middle Tennessee State University Students Educate Fellow Students About Our Legislators.” She is also a member of the Student Organization for the Advancement of Research and a board member of the 2025 Scholar’s Week Committee. Outside of CLDE, Victoria has been a fellow and panelist at the TCDN TN Campus Civic Summit twice, accepted from a national pool to attend the First-Generation Student Forum hosted by American Enterprise Institutes in Washington D.C. in November 2023, and invited to present at the TN Collegiate Honors College Conference in 2025. In 2024 she was accepted into the selective Delta Scholar summer program by Mississippi State University, creating a community-based project targeting regional issues in the American South, followed by a presentation in November at the partnering institutions, Brandeis University and Harvard Law School. Nationally, Victoria has been awarded a Fulbright US-UK Summer Institutes award, studying international politics at Aberystwyth University in 2023, and a Benjamin A. Gilman award in 2024 to study European politics and German language at Marburg University in Germany. In Fall 2024, she was accepted to The Washington Center Academic Internship Program, where she completed a semester-long on-site internship in Washington, D.C. at the International Rescue Committee as a refugee resettlement intern. Academically, Victoria has maintained her position on the MTSU Dean’s List all six semesters, holding a 3.94 GPA. After graduation from MTSU in December 2025, she plans to pursue graduate school for foreign policy in Washington D.C., aiming to become a Foreign Service Officer in political diplomacy for the U.S. Department of State.
Bryson Chandler
Bryson Chandler is a Public Writing and Rhetoric major at Middle Tennessee State University, with a minor in Math. He is passionate about helping people and believes the transformative power of writing can be used to change minds, influence actions, and ultimately create a more equitable world. In 2023, he moved in with his Nana to provide her with full-time care; an experience that has deepened his compassion and commitment to making a positive impact.
Hannah Antrican
Hannah Antrican is a senior sociology and psychology double major, with a concentration in social justice and a minor in university honors. In the fall of 2024, she defended her honors thesis entitled, “Eco-anxiety and pro-environmental behaviors in college students”. While at MTSU, she has worked at both the MTSU Writing Center and Undergraduate Research Center. Hannah currently serves as the president of Students for the Advancement of Research and MTSU Planned Parenthood Generation Action, as well as vice president of College Democrats. She has presented her research at multiple conferences, including the National Conference of Undergraduate Research and the International Conference of Undergraduate Research. Hannah is passionate about using research to advance social justice and plans to go on to complete a Ph.D. in sociology.
Kenzie McCroskey
Kenzie McCroskey is a dance artist and educator based in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She is a junior dance major at Middle Tennessee State University, as well as an educator and choreographer at Dance with Stacey in Smyrna, Tennessee, specializing in Ballet and Hip-Hop for ages 4-18. Kenzie is also taking part in the MTSU Dance Theatre Company and Ignite Dance Company in Nashville, TN. Additionally, Kenzie has choreographed many works for Dance with Stacey, Student Gala, Ignite Dance Company, and individual solo projects. She has also volunteered in multiple events raising money for breast cancer awareness. Kenzie has received multiple awards including the Dance Teacher award, Dance Collaboration award, and the Dean’s List for five semesters. She has also served on the MTSU Dance Society board as the Dance Major Representative. Kenzie aspires to continue her dance career through both performance and educational opportunities.
Laney Denton
Laney Denton is a senior majoring in Spanish and International Relations and minoring in Humanities with a passion for language and cultural studies. Throughout her academic career, Laney has honed her communication skills and deepened her understanding of global perspectives and been awarded the John and Linda Vile Honors College scholarship and the Friends of CLA Endowed scholarship. She participated in a study abroad to Oaxaca, Mexico and will be travelling to Salamanca, Spain this semester. In addition to her academic achievements, she is also an active member of the campus community serving as a Student Emissary for the College of Liberal Arts and as president of the MTSU Relay for Life student organization. She has also served as secretary of the Worlds Languages and Cultures club. Laney plans to attend law school, where she hopes to combine her language knowledge with a future career in immigration law.
Graduate Students (Listed by Department/Program)
Daniel Robinson
Moving on from nearly six years of teaching high school, Daniel Robinson accepted an adjunct professorship from Motlow State Community College and also entered MTSU’s English Graduate Program in 2018. He earned his Master’s degree in 2020, emphasizing literature, specifically Milton, and in 2022, Milton Studies published a revised chapter of his thesis concerning Milton’s Satan and the etymology of the word “demon.” Longing for scholarship again, he returned to MTSU for his PhD, this time to study Early Modern occultism. Projected to be graduated in 2026, he has recently begun his dissertation, which analyzes untraditional thinking occluding itself within various discursive milieux of 16th- and 17th-century Europe. Away from his three vocational responsibilities of Motlow, Columbia State, and MTSU teaching, he dabbles in art and invests in his family.
Jacob Whitehead
Through a mix of archival document analysis and ArcGIS mapping, M.A. History student Jacob Whitehead’s thesis research revolves around the construction, navigation, and rituals of the Manila galleons that sailed between the Philippines and Mexico as part of the Spanish empire’s system of fleet trade routes that lasted from 1565 to 1815. Jacob spent two months abroad in Mexico traveling to archives and historic sites in Mexico City, Oaxaca, Puebla, and Acapulco to find resources for his work. On his trip, he was also invited to attend seminars at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. On March 15, 2024, Jacob presented some of his findings on Manila galleon rituals at the Rocky Mountain Council for Latin American Studies conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aside from his own studies, Jacob enjoys conversing with his fellow graduate students about their research and took on the role as president of the Association for Graduate Students in History (AGSH) where he has hosted book sales and workshops to help his fellow scholars develop skills and receive funding for their own conference presentations. Jacob also enjoys his work as a graduate teaching assistant where he can grade undergraduate essays and offer advice to make them better researchers and writers.
Madison Staggs
Madison is finishing her M.A. in International Affairs (MAIA) degree this semester and will graduate with one of the highest cumulative GPAs in her cohort, as well as a remarkable track record of public service that has culminated in an exceptional internship with the American Red Cross. Less than two years ago, Madison earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations with minors in women and gender studies and French from Middle Tennessee State University and earned a first-semester scholarship for graduate study at MTSU. With a strong first semester in the MAIA program, Madison was awarded a graduate assistantship, and in that capacity has reliably and capably assisted Dr. Amy Atchison with a number of research projects and instructional activities. Madison has earned a reputation as one of the top academic students in the MAIA program by thoughtfully engaging with course materials, classmates, and professors in a manner that is insightful, constructive, and collaborative.
Madison’s graduate practicum consists of an ongoing internship with the American Red Cross, for which she has prepared and presented research on international conflicts and International Humanitarian Law (IHL), one of the focal points of her studies in the MAIA program. In her work with the American Red Cross’ Youth Action Campaign, Madison has redesigned curricula and has represented the organization in a variety of roles, chairing meetings and giving major presentations. Promoted to Lead Advocate for MTSU’s IHL Youth Action Campaign, Madison is now gaining a national reputation for her diligence and highly effective leadership and collaborative work with the American Red Cross National Headquarters. Upon graduating in May 2025, Madison eagerly anticipates launching a career in the nonprofit sector, building on her budding professional success, strong academic foundation, and her dedication to education, human rights, and the protection of the most vulnerable in a volatile world.
Chelsea Able
While pursuing her M.A. in Liberal Arts (MALA) at MTSU, Chelsea Able discovered her interest in Neandertal cognition and symbolic behavior. Her capstone project, “Cranial Evidence and Symbolic Thought: Understanding Neandertal Cognition Through Symbolic Culture,” was a comprehensive literature review that explored current research on the evolution of brain structures related to symbolic thinking and the archaeological evidence of symbolic behavior, such as cave art, among Neandertals. Recently admitted to the Anthropology Ph.D. program at the University of Missouri, she plans to research the possible ritualistic and symbolic behaviors of Neandertals from an evolutionary perspective. Following the completion of her Ph.D., she hopes to further study Neandertal cognition and mentor students as she was mentored by faculty members at MTSU.
Angélica Trujillo
Angélica Trujillo is a Colombian cellist pursuing a Master’s degree in Musicology at Middle Tennessee State University. Her research explores the intersections of music, history, and cultural identity, focusing on Latin American musical traditions. She has a strong interest in platforms for disseminating musical knowledge and in facilitating public access to cultural resources to contribute to communities’ historical memory. To further this goal, she is gaining experience in library and archival information management through a volunteer internship at the Listening and Viewing Center and a course in the Public History concentration. In addition to her academic work, Angélica is a journalist for Music City Review magazine, where she contributes with reviews and interviews related to classical and Latin American music.
Kelsey Johnson
Kelsey (she/her) is a recent graduate of the Sociology M.A. Program and completed a research thesis on abortion laws in each state in the U.S., entitled “Abortion Affirmation in State Legislatures: A Qualitative Content Analysis of Abortion Policy Nationwide.” She is also employed by the Tennessee General Assembly as the Legislative Assistant to Rep. Gloria Johnson and holds extensive experience in political advocacy and legislative analysis.
Katheryne Greer
Katheryne Greer is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in French. She has a Bachelor of Arts in French and Francophone Studies from MTSU. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she spent 7 months in France teaching English through the Teaching Assistant Program in France. After graduating, she plans to teach French in Rutherford County.
