Season Two

Life for every student at U-M – let alone for every person on earth – has undergone tremendous change recently. We’ll explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted people differently even within the Residential College community. This episode features a Resident Advisor in an RC hallway in East Quad, a student studying abroad in Paris at the time of the U-M shutdown, a student who remained in University Housing after East Quad’s evacuation, as well as a member of the RC intensive language faculty. We explore family ties, procrastination, the strangeness of seeing other people in real life, and dealing with anxiety during these “unprecedented times”, all with humor and vulnerability.

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Listen to the latest episode of the RC Podcast and celebrate the 25th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners put on by the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP). It is one of the largest exhibitions of art by incarcerated artists in the country. Hear from formerly incarcerated artists, now on the outside, and members of the curatorial team about the founding of the exhibition, the process of and criteria for artwork selection, and what making art does for incarcerated people. Where is the most common place to make art in prison? How far – and deep – does the PCAP network span? Listen to find out.

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Honestly, how is the food at the University of Michigan? Can you survive on the meal plan? Hint: you can. But is the food good? What do students really think? Listen to the episode to find out ;-). From meal plans, to the seven all-access dining halls, to the East Quad Blue Cafe, to the EQ kitchen, to Ann Arbor restaurant recommendations, we’ve got you covered. You’ll hear from current RC Students—Mecca Durhal, Hayden Graves, Jasmin Lee, Arjun Thakkar, and Hannah Glass-Chapman—as they each describe their own dining experiences as U of M students.

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Sometimes prospective students ask us if they can pursue studies in STEM as an RC student. Our answer is always a resounding, “YES!” To set the record straight, Maeve Pascoe and Rachel Hurwitz from the class of 2018 talk on the latest episode of the RC Podcast about their experiences in STEM research and premed coursework while studying in the Residential College. We discuss how they’ve felt being women in the field, what imposter syndrome can look like, and how even a bad grade in organic chemistry can’t stop you from a successful career in medicine. 

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“When else are you going to have this opportunity where a world-class university is giving you credit on your transcript to talk about sex with your peers? When does that happen?” The answer is the RC Forums program, a fully student-initiated and -led learning space open to all U-M that grants Residential College participants credit to learn about a topic like diversity in politics, feminism, art, and dance, without a faculty or staff member in the room. There are currently 12 active forums, but students create new ones or retire legacy ones as their interests fluctuate like their major declarations. This episode features five student forum leaders and the RC student affairs coordinator, Esha Biswas. 

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Have you ever wondered how displaced people develop a relationship to the physical land in their new home region, or how school-age youth are responding to rising gun violence today? The RC Social Theory & Practice Major (STP) gives U-M students the latitude to design their own interdisciplinary plan of study, culminating in capstone projects like these. In this episode of #theRCPodcast, you’ll meet Mani Samei and Ruby Schneider, two RC students currently at work on their senior projects, and you’ll hear from Associate Head of STP, Jane Lynch. Explore the possibilities that this inter-, multi- and cross-disciplinary major offers, and what curiosities it can lead you to. 

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RC Senior Hannah Brauer introduces listeners to the RC Review, an annual student-run magazine for writers and artists in the Residential College community. Bonus: you’ll hear from multiple writers and current RC Review staff members members reading recently published work, à la an open mic at a coffee shop. Hear about the new developments in digital content coming to the RC Review this year, and get ready to prep your submissions and send ’em along to rcreviewsubmissions@gmail.com. 

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The ways that we meet the nutritional needs of our communities, while also protecting the planet, promoting healthy lives, and ensuring food justice are among the greatest challenges facing our nation and the world today. Get to know the planning committee for the Community of Food, Society & Justice Conference, coming to the Residential College in October 2019. Listen up to learn about the conference panels and keynotes, student- and institution led-changes to food on campus, and about the lasting impacts that a group of farmers, academics and activists aim to create together in SE Michigan. 

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On July 1, 2019, Catherine Badgley became the 11th director of the Residential College, and the 3rd woman in the role. She is no stranger to the halls of East Quad; she’s been teaching in the RC since the late 1980s. In this interview, Catherine discusses her research in the fossil records of Pakistan and the American southwest. She lays out her view of her role as Director of the RC which includes maintenance and innovation. She giggles a bit remembering her bread-baking entrepreneurial venture in her undergrad days. Get to know our new Director – and take her up on her offer to let her know what’s on your mind.

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RC alumna Carmen Bugan, ’96 Creative Writing, had a happy childhood in a small Romanian town. Little did she know then that her family was under 24-hour surveillance by Ceausescu’s totalitarian regime due to her father’s pro-democracy activism. In this episode, Carmen tells why her family’s story is a dominant subject in her poetry, and how writing gives her a pathway to freedom. Part shop-talk and part memoir, this interview was recorded when Carmen was on campus as the Helen L. DeRoy Visiting Professor in Honors in the fall of 2018. 

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