Audiences: current students, admitted students, employees, current and admitted student parents, alums and BOT
Dear Spartans and friends,
March has a way of upending expectations, whether we’re talking about March Madness basketball upsets or Michigan’s fickle weather. But we can always depend on a quickened pace for campus activities with the approaching end of the semester.
Honoring faculty
This time of year offers numerous opportunities to celebrate our university’s excellence. My favorite place on any campus is a classroom with curious students, and I recently joined fellow university leaders to confer the President’s Distinguished Teaching Award on Gabriel Ording, associate professor in the Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, during a surprise visit to one of his lectures.
As director of the Center for Integrative Studies in General Science in the College of Natural Sciences, where he has his primary academic appointment, Ording is a highly engaged faculty member. He is noted for instilling science literacy and appreciation among his non-major students through inclusive, evidence-based instruction and large-scale curricular innovation. He also helped develop multi-college assessment infrastructure, interdisciplinary curriculum pilots and, more recently, a program aimed at addressing Michigan’s science teacher shortage.
He’s a wonderful exemplar of our profession, and I was proud to share that recognition in front of his class. I look forward to doing so again as we salute faculty, administrators, academic staff and graduate student honorees at our annual All University Awards next month.
Launching the Presidential Speaker Series
We had a great turnout this month for the inaugural event of our Presidential Speaker Series, and I encourage you to enjoy the recording of our lively and informative conversation.
This annual event brings thinkers and practitioners to MSU to model civil discourse across differences on issues of consequence to higher education and our society. Like the university itself, the series is meant to examine the productive tension of competing ideas and encourage dialogue conducted with humility and empathy. We want to equip students with the skills to navigate differing perspectives and to strengthen the democratic values for which proudly public institutions such as ours are uniquely positioned to uphold.
It was a joy to host three panelists bringing a wealth of experience in higher education and government: Margaret Spellings, president and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education; and former Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, a principal policy advisor at the global law firm DLA Piper. We were also honored to be joined by former Michigan governors James Blanchard and John Engler, two Spartans who share leadership of a bipartisan organization highlighting the integrity of our public elections.
Advancing One Health
Innovation is part of Michigan State’s DNA. We are entering the next phase for planning our One Team, One Health initiative, which aims to more fully integrate and leverage the university’s strengths across human, animal and environmental health. The initiative boldly reimagines how we conduct medical education, research and clinical care.
Shaped by recommendations from our One Health Council and informed by thousands of points of campus and stakeholder input, this vision builds on MSU’s emphasis on interdisciplinary research, statewide outreach and collaborative partnerships.
We are excited to pursue our next big steps:
Establishing a cross-campus One Health Research Network to better align research with our priorities.
Unifying our colleges of Human Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine into an integrated medical college offering both M.D. and D.O. degrees, preserving the distinct strengths of both degree program.
Creating a College of Health Sciences to expand interdisciplinary education to meet growing workforce demands.
I’m grateful to all who have contributed to this process. It’s an exciting vision, representing more than alignment of our unique mix of assets: It is an institutional commitment to improving health outcomes and preparing future health leaders to serve an interrelated, complex world.
Giving Green and cheering on Spartans
Here’s another much-anticipated highlight of our spring term: our annual Give Green Day, when the global Spartan community comes together to support Spartans through the causes and programs that mean the most to them. I’m very proud to report that Spartans and friends again broke the record with a tentative tally of nearly $6.5 million from more than 6,200 gifts. When Spartans come together with such purpose and generosity, the impact is extraordinary and reminds us once again of what makes Michigan State special. Thanks to all who give!
And of course, nothing is more dependably seasonal than MSU athletic teams battling through their NCAA Tournament brackets. Congratulations to men’s basketball Head Coach Tom Izzo on his record-setting 28th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and to the entire program for its dedication and success, having advanced to Sweet 16 competition tomorrow. And congratulations, too, to the MSU women, who made a third consecutive NCAA basketball tournament appearance under Head Coach Robyn Fralick.
MSU men’s ice hockey, the conference regular-season champion under Head Coach Adam Nightingale, starts NCAA Tournament play today. Our gymnastics team, meanwhile, recently placed second in the Big Ten Championships under the leadership of Head Coach Mike Rowe and is looking forward to the NCAA Gymnastics Regionals next week. And congratulations to baseball Head Coach Jake Boss Jr., who recorded his 500th career win Saturday at home against Iowa as the Spartans captured their first conference series of the season.
We’re working to best position our student-athletes, programs and the wider university to compete and succeed. J Batt, our director of athletics, offered current highlights in a recent letter to the Spartan community. There, he also outlined our plans to be a leader in the fast-evolving college athletics business environment.
There’s much to be proud of across the university and, with spring now officially arrived, it’s even easier to say Go Green!
Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D.
(pronounced GUS-ka-wits)
President
John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor
Department of Kinesiology