Katelyn Faulks

Writing Samples

1: Film Speaks Volumes

Graduate student Michelle Baroody is the film festival director for Mizna, a non-profit organization that
is committed to promoting Arab and Arab American expression through film, literature, and art. At
Mizna, Michelle coordinates the Twin Cities Arab Film Festival.
Michelle says the film festival brings film and the community together because film speaks to a larger
percentage of the population than other forms of artistic production, because we all know how to watch
movies. The festival, which spans one long weekend in the fall, celebrates Arab-themed art and cinema
by showcasing films made by and about Arabs. Films are shown at local theatres around Minneapolis.
The last festival occurred November 5-8, 2015, and featured films made in Iraq, Egypt, Palestine, and the
U.S. The main goal of the festival is to offer a medium and method to voice Arab and Arab American
culture and stories.
Although the United States has a significant Arab and Arab-American population, stereotypes persist.
The festival offers a broader perspective on the diversity of experiences in the Arab world. Were
fighting against the narrative that the Arab world is [only full of] billionaires, belly dancers and
bombers, Michelle explains.
As festival director, Michelle works hard to create panel discussions, program and schedule the films,
and brainstorm how to engage the University and surrounding communities. I love it! Its great! Its
super rewarding and such an important project, it is nice to have community engagement and
experience outside of academia.
Michelle also explores issues of representation through her dissertation research. Specifically, she
examines the immigration and assimilation of early Syrians settling in the United States and the process
by which they begin to identify as "Arab Americans." Michelle does this work by analyzing historical
archives and reading across philosophical, literary and popular writings. She drew inspiration to explore
Arab representations partially from the media representation of Arabs post-9/11.
This semester, Michelle Baroody has the opportunity to work in Washington DC through the support of
a Smithsonian Institution/Committee on Institutional Cooperation Predoctoral Fellowship. This sixmonth fellowship offers Michelle access to archives where she may conduct research for her
dissertation, which examines Arab American studies, history, and literature.
Studying Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota has provided
Michelle with the knowledge of film theory and criticism to analyze media representation for her
dissertation. Coursework focusing on Arab and postcolonial cinema has prepared Michelle to consider
how words and images make meaning. And, to recognize when media reproduces one-dimensional
ideas about race, class, gender and sexuality.
The film festival offers an opportunity to challenge one-dimensional messages, Michelle explains. She
programs the festival aiming to offer a more nuanced view of Arabs and Arab Americans by sharing a
diversity of Arab film and literature with the Twin Cities community.
Next fall, Miznas Twin Cities Arab Film Festival will occur between September 29 through October 2 at
St. Anthony Main Theater.

Katelyn Faulks
Writing Samples

2: Student engineers make robots, learn industry

Mechanical engineering sophomore Joseph Nasvik created a dish roulette robot to randomly assign
dishwashing tasks to his roommates. When turned on, the robots wheel spins and delegates the chore.
Nasvik was one of 240 University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering students who
displayed work from their Introduction to Engineering class Monday at the McNamara Alumni Center.
To receive a final grade, the students must participate in the Robot Show. Though it isnt competitive,
three panels of judges from the engineering field evaluate the students work.
The goal is to help [the students] see what its like to be an engineer, mechanical engineering assistant
professor Timothy Kowalewski said. In the professional field, he said, CEOs and supervisors evaluate
created products. The robot show gives students an idea of what that experience is like.
Mechanical engineering sophomore Raymond Bouchart, who created a robot that automatically tie-dyes
T-shirts, said he liked making his ideas a reality. Its nice to get my hands wet in the field designing
stuff, he said. The show gives me a good idea of what the engineering process is like.
The introductory engineering class teaches students programming and some design techniques,
Kowalewski said, but what they design is up to them. The projects main requirements are that materials
cost less than $50 total and that the robot does something useful and interesting, he said. Though its
tough for students to make robots that havent been made before, Kowalewski said, they have new
ideas every year so the show never gets old.
Some students this year made robots to help solve a problem or to make everyday tasks easier.
Individualized studies junior Sophie Martin made a robot that fills a cup with ice and pours a drink. My
friends were joking they wanted a robot that poured drinks, and [my robot] kind of evolved from there,
she said. Martin said the project taught her how to problem-solve and apply concepts she learned in
previous engineering courses.
3M Technology Manager Terry Boczek helped judge Mondays show. Learning how to solve the
problems is important, he said, and the skills students acquire to make functional robots directly apply
to working in the engineering industry.
Andy Nelson, a part-time mechanical engineering student, said he enjoyed the project because he could
tinker with things. In addition to taking classes, Nelson works as an engineer at a business video
company. He said hes found that combining theory from the classroom with practical experience
through the robot project helps students connect their lessons to fieldwork. Nelsons robot could locate
and follow lines made on a flat surface. On a large scale, he said, this machine could drive boxes
between warehouses or deliver equipment within a building.
Martin said she plans to use the skills she learned making her robot as she moves forward in her
academic and professional careers.[The project] made me feel like a true engineer, she said.

Katelyn Faulks
Writing Samples

3: Paving the Way towards Preservation

Professor Kat Hayes has always been interested in thinking through dirt by analyzing the material
aspects of human life. Through materials, she explains, humans make sense of their identity
subconsciously, which allows different stories to shine through that may not make it to the history
books. But what is more compelling, she says, is to collaborate with groups, like native or immigrant
communities, to interpret their own histories by facilitating access to work with their ancestral
materials.
Heritage studies considers context of contemporary cultural groups and their understanding of material
and immaterial objects which may be preserved and studied by scholars. The material tells their story,
not only about their past but about who they think they are today.
Currently archaeology is moving to become more community engaged. Instead of archaeologists acting
like Indiana Jones (alone), they are connecting with other experts and communities to co-produce
historical knowledge. But the programs that students rely on still push for specialization rather than
developing an interdisciplinary mindset right away.
Kats passion for heritage studies led her to think about how students could apply their academic
knowledge to work with communities who need help archiving and preserving their histories. She
wondered, How can we make stories collaboratively out of every shred of material evidence that is out
there?
Some University programs attempt to answer this question. For example, there is a Master of Science
degree program in architecture that trains students in heritage conservation and preservation. The
anthropology masters program emphasizes cultural heritage management focused in archaeology.
Other programs throughout the University exist, but they have been specialized and separated from
each other and the community.
In 2009, the Locating Heritage Collaborative was founded. Kat and other professionals made
connections across the university to establish a group dedicated to heritage studies and preservation. In
2011, the group expanded into the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) Teaching Heritage Collaborative.
As a convener of this collaborative, Kat and her colleagues aim to develop a new, interdisciplinary
graduate program that serves the Twin Cities cultural communities and educate the next generation of
heritage professionals.
Currently, Kat and other conveners of the collaborative have been working on developing new graduate
programs that focus on the interdisciplinary methodologies required to preserve community history.
Through these programs, they hope they may accomplish two goals: one, to start local research projects
that address community needs, and two, to change the way the next generation of archaeologists is
trained. Its important that we actually work with the communities that are most impacted by those
histories, Hayes says. Recognizing those histories matter.