Spartan Community Letter

Dear Spartans,

In our second week at MSU, my wife Amy and I can already feel the deep love Spartans have for this place. We are proud and grateful to be part of this special community, and I look forward to partnering with all of you to fortify our position as one of the leading global public universities. To be sure, we have a lot of work ahead, and yes, we will face some challenges, but there are even more opportunities before us, which is why I am optimistic about MSU’s bright future.

As I shared in my first community letter, I envision MSU as building on our strategic plans and becoming even more strategic, bold and student focused. Together, we can achieve all three, so long as we strive to question the status quo and always be curious about what is possible. Curiosity is at the heart of my 100-day plan, which I recently shared with the Board of Trustees, and I share with you today. I have three initial priorities to help guide us forward as we work collectively to become the university for Michigan.

First, I am engaging in a listening and learning tour to get to know our university and explore how we might strengthen our MSU 2030 strategic plan. Second, I am comprehensively assessing MSU’s financial health and how we can best invest our resources to achieve operational excellence. Finally, with your help, I aim to identify a signature initiative or two that will best position MSU as an engine that powers Michigan’s economy.

Please know that nothing in my 100-day plan is final. It simply reflects my initial thoughts as I take on the exciting role of leading MSU. Through the listening and learning tour and collaboration with the community, we will collectively solidify our goals and priorities for the next academic year and beyond.

As part of our work, I want to reiterate that we will build on the university’s strategic plans. They all helped draw me to MSU, and I appreciate how we have separate plans focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and on relationship violence and sexual misconduct. These plans already have attributes of being strategic, bold and student focused. Together, let us further advance our excellence and impact, recognizing that we can only truly do so if we foster an equitable and safe university for all.

MSU is already a great and proudly public university thanks to you and generations of Spartans. Through a culture of collaboration, we will reach even greater heights of excellence, embracing our rich land-grant traditions while becoming a more contemporary and bold institution. I look forward to working alongside our world-class faculty, dedicated staff, curious students and passionate alums as we strengthen our university and address the grand challenges of our time.

Sincerely,