MSU Today with Russ White

State of the State is the monthly roundup of policy and research for the state of Michigan from MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR). Arnold Weinfeld is the associate director for the institute. Charley Ballard is an economist at MSU. 

This month’s guest is Kimberly Dodd, a veterinarian and virologist with extensive expertise in emerging infectious diseases. She is currently the director of the MSU Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, or VDL, one of the country's premier veterinary diagnostic laboratories.

Pending board approval, Dodd has been recommended to serve as the new dean of Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, effective Aug. 1. 

Weinfeld, Ballard, and Dodd discuss the recent news of bird flu in Michigan.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:52) – What’s in the latest jobs report and is the economy moving full steam ahead?

(4:08) – Why don’t many Americans believe the economy is doing so well? What are the political implications? Michigan will play a key role in the 2024 election. 

(15:07) – Where are we now with bird flu in Michigan?

(20:56) – How is the state of Michigan involved?

(22:53) – Is our milk supply safe? Pasteurization kills the virus. 

(24:07) – Is there any evidence of human-to-human transmission? Should I be worried that I’ll get sick with avian influenza? “The risk to the public remains low. There will likely be additional restrictions in place at county fairs and petting zoos this summer.”

(26:33) – This likely won’t be the last pathogen we see. Talk about the mission and value of MSU’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

The Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health focuses on population health from its home base – the College of Human Medicine’s Flint campus. Being embedded in the Flint community allows the faculty and researchers to understand the assets and needs of the community while studying Flint’s most pressing public health issues.

Spartans work side-by-side with community partners and health care providers in a community-identified and community-participatory public health focus model.

Jennifer Johnson arrived in 2015 to a nearly empty building, the first research faculty member employed by the college in Flint. Much has changed since then. On April 1, Johnson assumed a new job as the founding chair of the department, overseeing nearly 200 faculty and staff.

Johnson leads a conversation on the impactful research and work being done in the department with her colleagues Maji Hailemariam Debena, Gayle Shipp, and Steven Ondersma.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:58) – Johnson on the department’s mission and her role.

(1:59) – Maji introduces herself.

(2:15) – Gayle introduces herself.

(2:44) – Steve introduces himself.

(3:16) – Maji, tell us about the MOSAIC project.

(5:12) – How are your mentor moms helping the younger moms?

(6:35) – What are the next steps? Do you hope to scale up the project?

(7:47) – Tell us about the YWCA women’s empowerment center you helped create.

(10:25) – How does your local work in Flint intersect with your international work in Africa? “It’s about people, not places.”

(14:06) – Gayle describes her research to impact and improve maternal infant health equity.

(15:22) – Tell us about the disparities you see and why they matter.

(17:20) – Why is breastfeeding important?

(18:28) – How is your work addressing the disparities you’re seeing?

(22:08) – Tell us about your new grant from the Robert Wood Foundation.

(24:08) – What are your next steps? How do you hope your work will turn into action?

(27:58) – Steve describes his research incorporating technology into addressing health disparities. What is CIAS - Computerized Intervention Authoring System?

(41:20) – How are you using this platform to help with maternal health equity? 

(49:51) – “It’s now possible to prevent postpartum depression.” What is Reach Out, stay Strong, Essentials (ROSE)?

(52:31) – Maji, Gayle and Steve on what they want us to know about their work. What is your ultimate goal?

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

New endowed fund to foster next generation of women’s health leaders  

To close the gap between women’s health research and other scientific disciplines, Ward and Mari Walstrom of Harbor Springs have made a $1 million gift to bolster education and research in the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology. 

The Walstrom Family Endowed Women’s Health Research Fund is creating an early-career training program to increase the number of scientists and clinicians pursuing a lifelong career focused on women’s health care and research. 

The program pairs medical and graduate students with research teams and will support independent research projects. Four College of Human Medicine early-career graduate students, including one third-year medical student, were recently selected and awarded the endowed funds; each will utilize the philanthropic funds to push forward current research projects, which would not have been otherwise possible. 

Three Spartans describe the impact the gift will have on women’s health. Dr. Richard Leach is professor and chair of the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health. Shannon Harkins is a PhD candidate and Walstrom fund recipient. And Roksolana Sudyk is a future Spartan MD and Walstrom fund recipient.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:19) – Leach on the strengths, mission, and evolving excellence of the MSU College of Human Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology.  

(5:01) – Leach on the Walstroms and the impact of their gift. 

(11:24) – Sudyk on her path to MSU, her passion for women’s health, and meeting the Walstroms.

(15:54) – Harkins on her passion for women’s health, her research project, and meeting the Walstroms.

(31:02) – Sudyk was attracted to MSU by the College of Human Medicine’s focus on women’s health and equity. And she describes her research project.

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Teresa Mastin is vice provost and associate vice president for faculty and academic staff affairs at MSU. She joins Bill Beekman, vice president for strategic initiatives, to discuss progress on the implementation of the faculty and staff success theme of the MSU 2030 strategic plan.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:03) – Mastin on her background, career path, and what excites her about her role.

(15:11) – What are the difference between tenure-track faculty and fixed-term faculty? How are their issues different?

(24:06) – What do you do to support faculty career development?

(32:37) – What’s your favorite part of your job?

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Matt Grossmann, Charley Ballard, and Arnold Weinfeld from Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) discuss the latest in Michigan and national politics, policy, and the economy on the State of the State podcast, a monthly round up of policy and research for the state of Michigan.

Peter Berg joins the conversation to talk about the UAW’s recent victory in unionizing a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee and its implications moving forward. Berg is a professor of employment relations and director of the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at MSU.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:50) – Ballard on the state of the national economy.

(4:29) – Ballard on the state of the Michigan economy.

(6:31) – Michigan is 39th in per capita personal income in the United States.

(9:41) – Grossmann on the latest in politics and how the perception of the health of the economy doesn’t match the perception for many.

(12:55) – What impact will the campus protests have on the election?

(15:16) – How will Gaza impact younger voters?

(17:11) – What factor will the UAW play in domestic politics and this election?

(19:09) – What is the diploma divide?

 (21:20) – What is the impact of the UAW’s recent win at Volkswagen? 

(23:25) – Will Shawn Fain and the UAW be a political force for President Biden in the election?

(25:24) – What are the UAW’s next targets?

(27:22) – Do you see the UAW win leading to more unionization in other industries?

(29:20) – Is the National Labor Relations Board’s legitimacy being questioned?

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Rodney Whitaker, University Distinguished Professor of Jazz Bass and director of Jazz Studies in the Michigan State University College of Music, is among the class of new members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. With this honor, he joins the ranks of artists, scholars, scientists, and leaders of one of the oldest learned societies in the United States.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:28) – How does this honor feel?

(1:17) – When and how did you fall in love with music? It started at the turntable.

(2:50) – Why the bass? Who influenced you? The violin was first.

(4:29) – How and when do you become a Spartan?

(5:48) – Why do you love to teach?

(7:08) – What’s the mission of the MSU Jazz Studies program? “It’s a place to grow mentors.”

(9:03) – Talk about your role directing the college’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts.

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Darien Harris is Spartan Athletics’ assistant athletic director for business development and NIL strategy. He provides leadership for Michigan State Athletics’ award-winning NIL program, EverGreen. 

Harris is expanding his role and focusing on engagement and collaboration with local and statewide businesses and national brands to help student-athletes develop brand identity strategies to enhance their presence across various social media platforms.

A 2015 Journalism graduate and graduate of Eli Broad College of Business' top ranked Master of Science in Marketing Research program in 2019, Darien has been a proud Spartan since 2011. As a four-year letter winner at linebacker for the Michigan State football team, Darien was a part of the winningest senior class in program history (43 wins), won two Big Ten titles, the 100th Rose Bowl, the 2015 Cotton Bowl and played in the 2015 College Football Playoffs

Harris talks about the evolving world of college athletics.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:23) – What attracted you to MSU, and were academics a part of your decision to be a Spartan?

(2:52) – How did your MSU experience – on the field and in the classroom - impact you?

(4:25) – Describe your role in Spartan Athletics.

(6:04) – What is NIL (name, image, and likeness)? What are the pros and cons?

(8:52) – What is EverGreen?

(11:22) – What is Spartan Nation NIL?

(13:40) – What are some facts about NIL you want to reinforce and some myths to dispel?

(16:25) – What’s ahead for the quickly evolving world of college athletics? 

(20:09) – If you were the czar of college athletics, what are some things you would do?

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Spirituality is declining in the United States if you focus on religious affiliation, but that isn’t the whole story according to Morgan Shipley, associate professor of religious studies at Michigan State University. A recent Pew Research Center survey reports that 28% of U.S. adults say they are religiously unaffiliated. By digging a little deeper, Shipley finds the religiously unaffiliated, sometimes called the “nones,” are a diverse group of people often with a broader perspective of spirituality.

As the MSU Foglio Endowed Chair of Spirituality, Shipley is exploring the changes in spirituality, belonging and religious identity through his research. 

Conversation Highlights:

(0:59) – Shipley on his background and interest in religious studies.

(4:00) – Why did you come to MSU for your PhD? Is there a collaborative ethos and sense of community and belonging at MSU that allows you to do your best work?

(6:44) – Tell me about Father Jake. What does spirituality mean more broadly and how is that evolving? Who are the “nones?”

(15:19) – How do you teach students about spirituality?

(18:06) – What role can technology and artificial intelligence play in people’s religious and spiritual practices?

(21:01) – Where do you see religion and spirituality heading in the next decade?

(23:37) – What do you want us to remember from this conversation? “To be a spiritual person is to be a person among others.” 

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Are you happy? What is happiness exactly? Is it true what Abraham Lincoln is said to have said, that we’re just about as happy as we decide we want to be? Is happiness that simple? What is the World Happiness Report, and what’s in the 2024 report?

MSU psychology researchers Bill Chopik and Rich Lucas discuss happiness on this episode of MSU Today. Chopik works from his Close Relationships Lab, and Lucas works from his Personality and Well-Being Lab.

Conversation Highlights:

(0:38) – Chopik shares his background, attraction to MSU, and mission of his lab.

(2:01) – Lucas on his background, research interests, and mission of his lab.

(3:01) – “Happiness is more complicated than my mom thinks it is.”

(4:46) – Is happiness the ultimate end, meaning it’s not a means to another end?

(6:34) – What are the factors that determine our happiness?

(9:42) – What is the World Happiness Report, and what’s in the 2024 edition?

(11:22) – Are there certain geographic areas that are happier than others?

(12:22) – What’s the difference between happiness and usefulness?

(16:13) – Are there levels or degrees of happiness, maybe short- and long-term happiness?

(19:30) – Do certain age groups tend to be happier than others?

(22:15) – How can students and alumni connect with you and interact with your labs?

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Though many of us may think of student success as graduating and finding a good job, our three guests today will share with us that it is much more than that. We think of universities as places where students learn:  They go to class, study, and do homework, and get a degree that supports future career success. But that creates a narrow definition of student success. 

The MSU approach sees the student in a comprehensive way that goes well beyond the four corners of the classroom to think about the person and how that person flourishes as more than a student, but quite holistically as an active contributor both to the student’s wellbeing and to the wellbeing of society.

Amy Martin is assistant dean for student success strategy. Renata Opoczynski is assistant provost for undergraduate student success. And Erin Carter is chief of staff for Student Life and Engagement. They join Bill Beekman, vice president for strategic initiatives, for this conversation on student success initiatives at MSU.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:52) – The evolution of student success initiatives at MSU. The neighborhood concept and engagement centers are part of the beginning. What services are available in the centers? 

(5:00) – What is the University Innovation Alliance?

(8:53) - How does MSU define student success? The five areas of success are self-discovery of purpose; educational success; developing a sense of belonging; contributing to an empowered community; and developing wellbeing.

(14:32) – What are some examples of projects in the five areas of student success? How often do students change majors? 

The projects come in the three buckets of course reform, the curricular path to a student’s desired career, and high-impact practices like study abroad and undergraduate research opportunities. “We’re fortunate that our faculty are key partners in student success.”

(32:42) – How does Student Life and Engagement see student success? The Inclusive Campus Initiative (ICI) and applying a restorative justice approach to conflict resolution are two examples.

(37:16) – What were some pivotal moments in your education that sparked your interest in student success? Mentors and relationships played key roles.

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever your shows.