Remarks as prepared
Detroit work session
I want to start with my thanks to our hosts for yesterday’s reception during our day-long work session in Detroit at the Detroit Pistons Center.
I want to thank our dedicated team, led by Stefan Fletcher, Jackie Vandenbosch and our IT experts.
Thanks, also, to our colleagues at Henry Ford Health for hosting our tour of our joint research center, which is nearing completion.
That state-of-the-art facility represents the commitment of both organizations to accelerate scientific discovery, fuel innovation in care and train the next generation of scientists and clinical providers.
One floor will also host the Nick Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Research Institute, in collaboration with the Gilbert Family Foundation.
I’m sure the research center and nearby investments will prove transformational for the community.
It’s a key part of a $3 billion project that also includes a development partnership with the Detroit Pistons that will shape the New Center neighborhood into a vibrant, walkable district with world-class residential, commercial and other assets.
This is a win for Detroit, for Michigan State and a big win for medicine, and will offer new opportunities to local residents, MSU faculty researchers and students as well.
Kellogg Award
That’s just one of the health-focused partnerships we’re proud of today.
We learned recently that Michigan State’s partnership with the C.S. Mott Foundation in Flint has earned recognition from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities as a regional winner of its 2026 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award.
This national distinction honors our Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health in Flint.
It also makes us a finalist for the top national honor in community-engaged higher education, the C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award.
That award will be announced at the APLU’s annual meeting in a couple of weeks.
The Kellogg award recognizes our land-grant mission to bring world-class research directly into communities through partnerships that solve real-world problems.
Since Flint community groups first approached our College of Human Medicine in 2011, we’ve built an unprecedented academic department co-developed and co-led by the community itself.
Working as one team, we’ve secured more than $500 million in external funding and created more than 300 jobs — all driving a $1.3 billion local annual economic impact.
Most importantly, we have directly improved the health of Michiganders, from providing mental health screenings to over 20,000 individuals to distributing fresh produce to nearly 200,000 local residents.
So, I want to extend our deepest gratitude to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, whose vision and collaboration have been foundational to the department's success.
I’ll be attending that APLU’s annual meeting next month, alongside several of our senior leaders, as we deepen our networks with our peer universities and discuss current issues facing higher education.
Along those lines, I’ll be sitting in on a national panelist conversation focused on evolving structures and revenue models in college athletics. And I know we have some of our other MSU leaders driving discussions on panels as well.
Oakland University panel
There’s a lot to discuss in the dynamic higher education environment we operate in today.
I recently joined three other college presidents at a presidential summit focused on issues in freedom of speech, academic freedom and civil discourse hosted by Oakland University.
We discussed topics such as: What does free speech mean to us as presidents ... issues of hate speech ... and legally protected and unprotected speech ... and the differences between freedom of speech and academic freedom.
Election & voting
Those are also timely topics as we approach the Nov. 3 midterm elections on Tuesday.
I’m proud of MSU’s longtime designation as a Voter Friendly Campus.
MSUvote, a collaboration with local election officials and civic organizations, is working once again this year to inform and empower students with resources to support their registration and voting.
As we did two years ago, we’re hosting one of the two East Lansing Early Voting Centers at WKAR in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building.
We’re asking students, especially, to know which community they’re registered in and where they’re assigned to vote in person, to make sure everyone gets to the right polling station to cast their ballots on Tuesday.
Your vote is your voice. Make it count.
Global rankings
I’m very proud to share the latest global recognition of Michigan State’s academic excellence, which was just released this week.
In the 2026 Shanghai Ranking, MSU is ranked in 41 academic disciplines, including nine in the top 50 globally. Notably, our Communication program ranks No. 5 — marking a full decade straight in the world's top five.
And we can count four more programs in the top 20 globally: education, environmental science and engineering, management and biotechnology.
Those rankings follow a different set of global rankings released earlier this season. In the Times Higher Education 2027 World University Rankings, MSU placed in the top 100 universities worldwide.
Congratulations to all these colleges and departments. All these rankings reflect the talent, dedication and impact of our faculty, staff and researchers, whose work continues to elevate Michigan State around the globe.
Veterinary hospital capital request
Turning now to a different marker of Michigan State’s excellence in teaching and research, the capital outlay request the Board will consider later on today’s agenda — which would support construction of a new, state-of-the-art College of Veterinary Medicine large animal teaching hospital.
The state's only veterinary college, MSU is a national leader in advancing animal and human health. But modern veterinary medicine demands updated, flexible infrastructure to support evolving educational and clinical needs.
Aligning with our 2030 strategic plan and “One Team One Health” initiative, this will be a transformational facility that will foster critical cross-disciplinary collaboration.
It would tackle the severe state and national shortage of large animal veterinarians. It will also fulfill MSU’s land-grant mission to support the agricultural community by expanding our capacity to train future veterinary professionals.
The state’s investment would help back our capacity to drive innovation, enhance community service and ensure MSU remains a premier veterinary institution for decades to come.
Spartan Bus Tour
I want to close with some highlights from our latest leg of the Spartan Bus Tour earlier this week.
It was another great opportunity to take some 65 MSU faculty and administrators into Michigan communities to find opportunities to strengthen our partnerships and perhaps create new ones.
We traveled 555 miles over three days, visiting 17 communities and sites along the southern portion of the state, from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie and from Bridgman to Monroe.
We even paid a friendly visit to colleagues at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, to talk about research we do together and the challenges and priorities we could begin to address together.
This annual signature event is our fifth Spartan Bus Tour — showcasing our university’s commitment to communities across our state. As you know, we have previously visited western and central Michigan, metro Detroit, the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan, and Flint and the Saginaw Bay region.
I hope you all enjoy some video highlights of this season’s tour.
It was another great trip, and I want to thank everyone who participated and who hosted us. Let’s turn now to the rest of this morning’s agenda.