Dear Spartans and friends,
My Wharton Center presidential investiture on Sept. 29 was both an honor for me and an eagerly anticipated opportunity to outline my vision for our university’s future. I’m grateful for those who participated in the program and shared the moment with my family and me.
Milestones on our journey
On Sunday, I announced several initiatives for the coming year that will help MSU continue to strive to be as accessible, affordable and as excellent as possible.
We will be a talent magnet and talent activator to solve the world’s greatest challenges. The newly created Green and White Council of civic and business leaders, funders and government officials will inform our work through members’ deep knowledge and experience as they advise us on how to best prepare our students to meet current and future workforce needs.
And a new merit-based, full-ride scholarship named for the university’s first president and his wife, Joseph R. and Sarah L. Williams, will help us recruit the most talented and accomplished students to Michigan State.
We are further opening access to prospective students by building a more robust transfer program with Lansing Community College and others around the state.
Additionally, a new Native American Tuition Advantage Program will offer in-state tuition to any student from the United States or Canada meeting tribal affiliation criteria. Potential access to our Spartan Tuition Advantage financial aid program will be open to them as well.
As we map out our journey forward, I’m excited to hit the road with some 50 faculty members and others on the inaugural Spartan Bus Tour. Later this month, we’ll visit more than a dozen communities around the western and northern parts of the mitten.
Our Spartan will to build our capacity to meet society’s greatest needs is represented in the next phase of our Global Impact Initiative. I’m looking forward to learning from our fellow Michiganders how we at MSU can further deepen our engagement with them and support our communities through MSU’s world-class education, research and outreach.
All of this tells me that Michigan State represents a great return on investment — for our graduates through the appreciating value of their MSU degrees and for our state and its taxpayers, who count on us to improve their quality of life. We will continue to deliver on that commitment.
If you missed the investiture ceremony, you can watch the video recording, listen to my MSU Today podcast interview with Russ White, view a photo gallery and read my address on my investiture website. Together, as one team, we are poised to make Michigan State greater and bolder.
Healthy enrollment, healthy democracy
As we strive in every way to be “Michigan’s state university,” I’m pleased to report that MSU just recorded its largest fall enrollment ever as well as growing diversity in its student body, thanks largely to rising applications and continued strong enrollments from in-state residents. Our newest class is led by 8,570 entering undergraduate first-time and transfer students from Michigan.
Michigan State’s overall fall semester enrollment totals 52,089 undergraduate and graduate students, including 37,646 in-state residents. We continue to be the top choice of Michigan university students by a wide margin, with every one of Michigan’s 83 counties represented, together with students from every state and 138 countries.
Moving through fall with our big campus community and engaging together in more indoor activities, now is a good time to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu — I recently got mine. University Physician Michael Brown has reminded students and employees about opportunities to get their shots, and I urge all Spartans to continue to be vigilant in caring for their health and that of others.
As MSU strives to prepare students for the challenges of today and tomorrow, voting remains a fundamental obligation to support a strong democracy where opportunities flourish. Heading toward the Nov. 5 general election, MSU is highlighting its knowledge resources and working to ensure students have every opportunity to register and vote. Among our efforts, WKAR will open Oct. 21 as an early voting center in cooperation with the East Lansing City Clerk’s office.
As I said in my investiture address after outlining the opportunities in front of us, I believe our future is bright. I’m excited to take this journey of engagement and accomplishment with my fellow Spartans. Go Green!
Sincerely,
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D.
(pronounced GUS-ka-wits)
President
Professor, Department of Kinesiology