Summer brings more serene aspect to campus, but rhythms of university calendar continue to move toward another exciting academic year

Michigan State University Interim President Teresa K. Woodruff elaborates on topics she covers in her June 2023 Spartan Community Letter, which you can read by clicking on the communications tab at president.msu.edu. “The campus has a different rhythm in the summer, but we've got a lot going on as we kind of round out the end of summer session one and move into summer session two. And I'm really excited about that. And we really do have a great foundation for success, and we do appreciate the Board of Trustees engagement and approval this month of our budget. And that budget really does prioritize compensation. “For me, the administration, and the Board of Trustees, our employees really are our most important asset and underlie all our strategic aims, particularly in student success. And so we did prioritize the compensation. That is a very important and welcomed part of this budget. The other thing I would just highlight is that the Board has approved the new recreation center. It's going to be on Shaw Lane, kind of between Birch and Harrison.“And we still have recreational facilities right now. Students and folks can still be in IM West and other places on campus. But when this is completed in a couple of years, that's going to really be a great first in class space. And that truly is about student success. Ensuring that our students have those kinds of places that they can recreate and relax and take care of their health and wellbeing, that represents a really important asset and something that we're delighted to work on. What is important that that budget has been approved and we're moving forward.”And the budget also includes $8 million in new investments in campus safety initiatives that Vice President Lynch is leading. “He's been doing a great job, and he's been talking with a lot of folks around the community. We've had a lot of community input. One of the things we've done is to work in partnership with Ingham County, and we now have a lot of outdoor signals that will now be co-opted to use for emergency settings like we had this last semester. We've got more green light emergency phones that include cameras. We're putting new door locks across campus, and that's happening daily. And we are going to be opening our campus security operations center, which really is an integrated system security that allows for a lot of real time monitoring. That's critical.“I want everyone to know how grateful we are to the community for the outpouring of support through the Spartan Strong Fund. We closed that fund after raising $2 million from about 4,200 donors. That really is an extraordinary outpouring of support for our students, faculty, and staff. And I just want to give, as a proxy for all those individuals, a great big thank you for their support. And about 300,000 of those dollars is going to go towards a memorial.” Speaking of the Board, you recently gave them your second annual strategic plan update. I know you live and breathe that strategic plan every day. What is some of the progress you'd like to highlight today as the plan indeed evolves?“We prioritized and funded advising last year. This is allowing us to add more advisors to our ranks and to develop professional opportunities for those advisors. And that's exciting. It allows for students to have more access to those individuals who can help them along their journey. We also, of course, wanted to highlight our employees in our strategic plan through our honorifics. And this includes university distinguished professors and the various honors and awards that we provide to our staff. But we're really making a concerted effort to ensure that everyone is recognized in ways that, for our humble folks around here, Russ, as you know, they often just do the great work and say, ‘Well, don't shine that light on me.’ We want to make sure that excellence of our employees is recognized.“We also have a goal, which I think some people were surprised by, of a billion dollars in annual research expenditures by 2030. And we are going in that direction. We're now at $759 million, and that's important for all of us. We have our sustainability goals. We're at number two in the Times Higher Ed for the whole United States. We're number two in the entire U.S. for sustainability. And our DEI goals are ones that we continue to build year on year. This includes in our healthcare colleges, where we've increased our number of students of color by more than 10 percent. Around the state, you visited our extensive footprint in Grand Rapids. You announced an investment in the iconic Fisher Building in Detroit and highlighted our role in Lansing's regional community at an address at the Lansing Economic Club. “We're building in all the places and spaces that are relevant to our educational mission. This includes our investment office’s purchase of majority ownership in the Fisher Building in downtown Detroit, part of the New Center of Detroit. It’s also right adjacent to our collaborative partners, the Henry Ford Health Care system, as well as the Pistons. And this partnership is really going to help us toward our commitment of reducing health disparities, particularly in Detroit, by using our research acumen to build better care for every zip code across the state of Michigan.“I also have been working in Lansing. We have an annual economic impact across the Lansing regional area that's just remarkable. And we've just announced a community initiative called BELIEVE. I believe in Lansing, and many people do as well. It’s co-chaired by April Clobes from the MSUFCU. We're going to bring excellence to Lansing through investment, empowerment, vision, and energy. That's BELIEVE. Bringing Excellence to Lansing through Investment, Empowerment, Vision, and Energy. And later this summer, I'm going to be on some dairy farms and out in some fields. I'm going to be at a cheese factory. We really have a great deal of wonderful activity across all 83 counties of Michigan, and I'm excited to be a part of that.”Final thoughts?“It's summer, and it is thought that these are slower, more serene days on campus. And I think they are in some ways, but there are also great things that are happening as everyone gets ready for this next fall season of education. And I’m just so thrilled to be able to elevate to our community some of these great things that are happening at Michigan State.”Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.