Dear faculty and academic and support staff,
Michigan State University has successfully navigated many changes over its eventful 170-year history, and strategic planning helps chart our way forward through shifting landscapes to pursue our highest aspirations. The collaboration and thoughtfulness that went into developing MSU’s 2030 strategic plan, leading to its adoption in 2021 — and its compelling vision of an institution taking on the challenges of the 21st century — are among the things that attracted me to Michigan State.
But the pace of change — on our campus and across society — warrants periodic review of our strategic plans to ensure their responsiveness and relevance to contemporary and anticipated conditions. Such agility supports the university’s success and continued ability to meet its mission. It’s a credit to our MSU 2030 steering committee members that they recommended such a timely reassessment.
That review became one of my early initiatives last year. I’m grateful to Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Bill Beekman and Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Heather Swain for their leadership of the process and for the work of MSU 2030’s executive sponsors and Strategic Plan Implementation Steering Committee. They will continue to lead the implementation of the refreshed plan, and we will chart our progress annually to ensure we are the leading global public research university to which we all aspire.
Changes appear throughout the plan thanks to the staff, faculty and leaders who brought their knowledge, ideas, commitment and aspirations to the refresh process. From adjustments clarifying phrasing to new initiatives and strategies, we have a tighter, bolder plan that is oriented to action. Moreover, it leans into collaboration and connection to achieve our goals, echoing our one-team approach at MSU.
We can look back on meaningful progress and achievement as a university over the past few years, including broadening access to an MSU degree through transfer supports and scholarships, as well as the growth of our research funding. We have retained many key outcomes from the original plan, including increasing our overall six-year undergraduate graduation rate to 86% and reaching $1 billion in annual research expenditures while tripling our National Institutes of Health/Centers for Disease Control federal funding.
Today, I am proud to introduce the refreshed MSU 2030: Excellence for Global Impact plan. This updated guiding document continues the university’s commitment to a relevant and shared vision through the second half of this decade.
The refreshed plan maintains its grounding in our public land-grant mission and reaffirms Michigan State’s commitment to central strategic priorities and long-standing core values, while integrating new cross-cutting themes that can spur innovation and synergy in key areas. Those themes are:
Grow Talent for Michigan and Beyond
Drive Health Transformation
Enroll for the Future
Build Community Together
Achieve Next-Generation Operations and Organization
The refreshed strategic plan introduces Access, Opportunity and Excellence as one of six priorities that continue to center MSU 2030. By promoting access and providing opportunities for all to excel, we support our people’s success. In addition, we position the university to advance the very best education and workplace culture for Spartans. This shift reflects the need to respond to evolving conditions while maintaining a welcoming learning community informed by the diverse lived experiences of our community members. This is part of what has always made MSU a special place, and we know it’s important to our collective success. We are reaffirming our commitment to this priority.
The new language connects with our broader land-grant mission and maintains our core commitments to advance education, research and outreach for the common good. You will also hear more about the Access, Opportunity and Excellence framework from Vice President Jabbar R. Bennett later today.
Pausing to refresh, reframe, reimagine and reaffirm MSU 2030 marks an important waypoint, offering opportunities to reflect on our successes and challenges, to consider how both MSU and the world have changed and to absorb lessons learned and adjust to ensure a continued successful trajectory. I encourage Spartans to read our strategic plan — a roadmap, as I often call it, to a bold and bright future — and consider ways each of us might align with and further its ambitious and worthy goals.
Sincerely,
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D.
President
Professor, Department of Kinesiology