President Stanley:

So, good afternoon everyone. I love the energy we have in this room right now. It's incredible. We've had a great past few weeks of welcoming students, faculty and staff back to campus. For our student athletes, how pleased I am to see them have the opportunity to be back with their teams and coaches preparing for an exciting year. We have plenty to be excited about.

The Haller era has begun with a bang. It's true. Our athletic teams have had great starts, highlighted by football opening the regular season of Big Ten play with a very, very impressive 38-21 win at Northwestern on Friday night. But the news gets better. That was just one of several wins by our Spartan teams over the weekend. Field hockey, women's cross country, volleyball, men's soccer and men's golf all posted victories. Congratulations. Our fall sports teams have combined to post a 14 two-and-two record so far. We're very proud of all they’re accomplishing, both on and off their competitive fields of play.

I'd like to recognize our Board of Trustees members who are here today. I know trustee Byrum will introduce them to you in a second, but please join me in acknowledging them. I also want to give my sincere thanks to Big Ten Commissioner, Kevin Warren, for joining us and for his partnership and leadership of our conference. Kevin Warren, thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. And certainly to members of the search advisory committee who gave their time and effort to assist the university with this search. I'm so very grateful to you for your involvement and passion about MSU Athletics. Some of them are here today. I'd like to acknowledge them. Trustee Renee Knake Jefferson, Coach Mark Dantonio, Lauren H. Grant, there she is, Brooke Bogan. I'm not sure they're here today, but if you are please signal to me, Craig Brown. We can applaud anyway. Gene Washington, Steve Smith, Bob Skandalaris and Board of Trustee member Kelly Tebay.

As I mentioned last week at our special board meeting, I felt it was important that we conduct a national search for our next athletic director, to look at all options and find the best fit for our current needs and future opportunities. The process worked the way it should. It led us to the best and new leader for our athletics department. I'm pleased. Our selection is already a Spartan, already a part of our community. The values that Alan Haller lives, integrity, compassion, empathy, and a steadfast commitment to public service makes him a natural leader.

I have confidence that a strong dedication to the department, its students and our community are essential characteristics to position us well for the future. You're going to hear these words to describe Alan many times today, and I'm very proud of that. I'm proud that we have a strong leader to continue our commitment to student success, to all students' wellbeing and to growing into the best version of themselves. Again, as I said last week, Alan understands that our athletes are students first and we will not lose sight of that priority.

His perspective as a former athlete is important and his background as a police officer and in public service, these experiences have shaped him as a leader and influenced the vision he has for moving MSU Athletics forward now. Alan also understands the financial and operational aspects of leading a Division I athletics department with 21 sports programs and more than a thousand athletes and staff, as well as hundreds and thousands, dare I say, millions of fans and supporters and donors throughout the globe. I'm excited to already have started working with Alan on his plans for keeping MSU at the forefront of college athletics. Let's face it. It's a challenging space right now, but I have confidence Alan can handle those challenges. I appreciate the board support throughout our search process. Last week, we had a unanimous vote of the board for Alan as our next AD. Thank you all for supporting this important process. Thank you.

We're going to hear from some outstanding coaches today. I appreciate that we have so many here to celebrate this new era. Our coaches and their staff are critical to our student success in providing the types of support needed to help all of our athletes excel. Before I introduce our next speaker, I'd also like to recognize Bill Beekman and thank him for his leadership these past three years. We're grateful for the role he's stepped into and we look forward to having him back in our central administrative team, helping with our strategic planning implementation. Now I'd like to introduce the chair of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, the honorable Dianne Byrum.

Dianne Byrum:

Thank you, President Stanley. I'd like to start by recognizing my colleagues on the MSU Board of Trustees. Would you please stand so we could recognize you, Trustee Melanie Foster, Trustee Renee Knake Jefferson. On behalf of the MSU Board of Trustees, I want to congratulate you, Alan, on your new role as athletic director. We are excited to see how you will continue to move MSU Athletics forward. I want to thank President Stanley and members of the search committee for successfully leading a national search process and landing us a qualified leader for the 20th athletic director for Michigan State University and for keeping the board informed along the way.

As many of you know, Alan is no stranger to the Spartan family or the greater Lansing community. A former two sport MSU student athlete himself, Alan understands and can relate to student athletes and the student athletic experience. It is that transformational experience that will help him succeed in this new role. As I shared last week, Alan is a remarkable leader and well-rounded administrator who has been so very instrumental in positioning MSU Athletics for continued success. He is a leader steadfastly committed to the success of MSU and our student athletes. I have full confidence that he will continue to move our department forward with a vision that focuses on student success, competitive excellence, and integrity in all things we do.

I believe I speak for us all on the Board of Trustees when I say we are so excited to see what is in store for MSU Athletics under your leadership. Alan, congratulations again. It is now my great pleasure to introduce Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren.

Kevin Warren:

It truly is a pleasure to be here today. I'd like to thank my wife, Greta, who made the trip from Chicago here with us today to honor Alan and your family and Michigan State University. Today's special. When I was thinking this morning what would be appropriate to discuss with you for a few minutes, one thing came to mind, and that's the importance of dreams, of dreaming big. Alan who grew up here in Lansing, he was probably told from the time that he was a young man that he'd never be able to get a scholarship and play at Michigan State. What did he do? He kept dreaming. He kept praying, but most of all, he kept working. He got an opportunity to play here, not only football, but also to compete in track and field.

Then he was told the odds of making it to the National Football League are very small. What did he do? He kept dreaming. He kept working. He kept praying. He got his opportunity in the NFL. And because of his servant leadership, he came back here to join the police force, which many people probably told him was either too dangerous or not worth his time. He embraced it for 13 years. Then when this opportunity arrived to join this incredible athletic department, what did he do? He came in here. He worked hard. He kept dreaming. He kept praying. There were many peopl...

President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., was joined by Dr. Norm Beauchamp, MSU Executive Vice President for Health Sciences; Dr. Suzanne Lang, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Human Resources; and Mr. Rick Fanning, Interim Associate Vice President for Human Resources. The discussion was moderated by MSU Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Dr. Jabbar Bennett.

Dr. Bennett:

Hello, and thank you for tuning into our podcast to learn more about MSU's plans and preparations to keep Spartans safe this fall. I am Jabbar Bennett, vice president and chief diversity officer for Michigan State University and I will be your moderator.

In this podcast, we'll address your questions about the health and safety measures in place this semester and we'll share additional information on our collective efforts to keep our Spartan community safe. We're going to hear from MSU experts about the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine and mask-wearing and how these important health requirements better protect the campus community. In addition, we'll spend some time answering your questions about these requirements and what they mean for you, our faculty and staff.

And now, I'm pleased to be joined today by a number of guests who have wide-ranging expertise in infectious disease, healthcare, and human resources. We'll start our conversation today with MSU president, Dr. Samuel Stanley, whose background in infectious disease research has helped navigate MSU through the COVID-19 health crisis. He will be followed by Dr. Norm Beauchamp, MSU executive vice president for health sciences, Dr. Suzanne Lang, associate provost and associate vice president for academic human resources, and Mr. Rick Fanning, interim associate vice president for human resources.

With that, it is now my pleasure to welcome Dr. Sam Stanley. President Stanley, thank you for joining us.

President Stanley:

Thank you, Dr. Bennett, and to my fellow panelists for joining us for this important conversation for our faculty and staff. I've said since I arrived at Michigan State University, just over two years ago, that the health and safety of our campus community are always my chief concern. And when it comes to making decisions in response to the pandemic, we always need to consider how it will affect our faculty, staff, and our community. And we need to follow the science, the public health trends, and of course, health agency guidelines and rules. We have a fundamental obligation to keep our campus community safe while continuing to move the university forward and focusing on the success of our students.

Late last month, the Centers for Disease Control issued some very concerning data and guidance related to the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Data from several studies indicated that the Delta variant is much more serious than the original strain in its transmissibility and possibly in its health impacts. In fact, it's three times more contagious than the original strain of the virus. The R-naught value of the original was around 2.7 and that of the Delta variant is closer to 6 to 8. And that's significant when you consider the close proximity of students, faculty, and staff together on a college campus. We also learned that there were some cases of what are called breakthrough infections, where people who had been vaccinated could spread the virus, even though they don't have symptoms.

At the same time, we were watching the trends nationally and locally for reported cases, which were rising here and elsewhere around the country. And that's really unfortunate because vaccinations had made good progress in knocking the virus back by this summer as more and more people had received their vaccinations. And I've been a firm and vocal proponent of these vaccines. My reading the data tells me that they're extraordinarily safe and incredibly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death.

In addition, the base of knowledge we've accumulated on vaccines at this point in time is huge to what we've learned from the very robust clinical trials and because so many people have now safely been vaccinated in the US alone, nearly 200 million. But as we observed vaccination rates, we became concerned that we might be short of where we needed to be to reach herd immunity in our community, primarily due to the new threat posed by the Delta variant.

Because of this, as well as important input from faculty and staff through shared governance, and input from student leaders, we decided to mandate vaccination for all students, faculty, and staff at MSU with exemptions for medical or religious reasons, and to issue a mandate for mask-wearing indoors for at least the first six weeks of the fall semester.

These actions are key in allowing us to return to campus safely, to experience in-person learning again, and to engage in all of the things that make the MSU college experience so special. And we know Spartans can do it. One of the lessons we took away from the last year and a half is that we can support a safe campus environment when we take the right precautions.

I encourage listeners to learn details and get updates at the MSU Together We Will website. This has always been a dynamic situation, so we will keep the website up to date. I'm looking forward to hearing what our other panelists have to add, Dr. Bennett, and to take your questions.

Thanks so much, President Stanley. That was really helpful for me and I'm sure our viewers appreciate that as well. I'd like to move on to Dr. Beauchamp. 

Dr. Beauchamp:

Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Bennett. And just following President Stanley, I mean, one of the blessings we have at MSU is a president who is an infectious disease specialist, as we seek to navigate this. And my feelings really strongly echo President Stanley's. What I would say is I had the opportunity to be appointed by President Stanley with Dr. Weismantel, our university physician, to really help lead the reopening last year.

And we made a commitment. Our commitment was that we would be a value-based organization and our decisions would be based on safety for our faculty, our students, and staff. And no matter how difficult the choices might be, safety would define all that we did. And I've been really proud of how our campus has held true to that. It's what Spartans do.

And when we think about a vaccine mandate and what that means, it really is about safety. 98% of the deaths that are happening from COVID-19 are in the individuals that are unvaccinated. We know that we lessen the risks of hospitalizations. We know that we lessen the spread of the disease. And to the extent that we can lessen the spread, we decrease the likelihood of new variants appearing. So I'm just very proud of our organization making this very difficult decision to embrace a vaccine mandate and a mask mandate.

Dr. Bennett
Thank you so much for those very, very thoughtful comments. Much appreciate it. And I have a question for you. So some individuals may still have concerns over the safety and efficacy of the COVID 19 vaccines. How do we reassure our community on the safety and efficacy of these vaccines?

Dr. Beauchamp:

It's an excellent question, Dr. Bennett, about the safety of the vaccine. And really, our knowledge is that the vaccine is highly safe. The technology behind it has been in development for over 30 years. The ability to use mRNA to protect people from an infection has been an ongoing effort and it has been over the last two years where the focus has been on the COVID-19 virus. And when you combine that with the science of monitoring the effect of the vaccine and reactions to it in over a hundred million vaccinations, it just tells...

How much funding do we receive and what areas of MSU receive funds in this process?

“The number changes a little bit every year, so the number I'm giving right now, which is $287 million is a number that we're getting this year,” says Bertram. “Now that's just in one line for one purpose. That's general operating dollars from the state of Michigan. In addition to that $287 million, AgBioResearch gets about $35 million and MSU Extension gets about $30 million. There are other smaller programs like Project Greeen, which is an annual program that does plant-based agriculture research. There are a number of other programs as well. 

“When you add it all up, it's about $400 million a year, maybe a little under that for all of MSU. This is money that goes into our general fund, but not for Athletics. I would distinguish that no money from the state goes to Athletics. I'd also qualify that no money from student tuition goes into Athletics. Athletics is a completely standalone program; they're self-sustaining. They receive gifts from donors as well.”

“What I would add in there is that for the $287 million of general operations, that works out to be about 20 percent of our operating fund today,” adds Reuter. “Historically that number was much higher. And another point on Athletics is that the scholarships that students receive are funded by Athletics. The scholarships are for full tuition rates that Athletics has to cover. So as the cost of tuition rises, that's an increased cost for Athletics to have to be able to cover in their operating budget and in their revenue stream. So, while there are no direct dollars coming from the state going there, there is a correlation in terms of cost of operations for Athletics based on what the university's tuition is.”

With a need for a more educated workforce to meet the employment needs of today and in the future, Bertram and Reuter tell why then there isn’t more state funding for higher education. 

“Once upon a time there was more it; unfortunately, it's not as high now as where we believe it should be,” Bertram says. “What's happened is a real transformation over a period of decades. From our perspective, we just need to raise the importance of higher education funding within the state budget. And that's not just an MSU thing; it's everybody.”

There are 15 public universities in Michigan, and they say investment in not only Michigan State University but higher education in the state of Michigan is an investment in our state. They also compare and contrast the funding history of higher education to other education funding in Michigan, like funding for K-12.

“We really don't want it to be about higher education versus K-12 or higher education versus community colleges because really we all work hand in hand, and, quite frankly, we've always said that if a student isn't taught well at the K-12 level, MSU is going to spend a lot of resources and dollars when they arrive on our campus to get them to where they need to be, to graduate them, and to have them be successful,” says Bertram. “We have a lot of student success programs in place, and we've been ramping up our percentage of students who are graduating. The last thing you want is to have someone spend thousands of dollars and then not get a degree. 

“It’s not a competition, but K-12 has been funded better. I will also say that community colleges have been funded on a similar scale approach and are maybe doing a little better than our four-year institutions in the state.”

The duo talks more about the current budget process and the dynamics at play. And they talk about the challenge of the declining demographic of college-aged students in Michigan that is facing MSU and all the state’s 15 public universities. One thing that has helped the overall state budget is collecting taxes on internet sales. They also analyze some of the current budget proposals for the upcoming fiscal year coming from the House and Senate.

Reuter says Spartans and higher education supporters can engage in the budget process and keep up with what's taking place by becoming a Spartan Advocate and supporting MI Spartan Impact.

“While the site is a huge source for our Spartan Advocates and our Spartan friends out there across the state, the country, and the world, it also serves as a great tool for legislators to understand the impact of MSU. Those decision-makers we've been talking about can see the same data and look at it from their district and see how much of an impact MSU’s land grant mission has in their area.”

Reuter shares some examples of advocacy work so potential advocates know what to expect when asked to engage. And Bertram adds that advocating for MSU and higher education “is not like a second job. It doesn't take that kind of a time commitment. It might be a couple of times a year that we ask for help. We would love to not have to do it. It would be nice if we were only sending out thank you notes. It’s only a few times a year and everyone is welcome to participate.”

“I would just encourage anybody listening that even if you don't sign up as a Spartan Advocate to engage with your state legislator about higher ed funding and the importance of it. We really think the conversation needs to flip a little bit. In the past six or eight years, there's been a trend of people saying ‘Well, do I really need to go to college? Do I need to get a degree?’ We really need to change that conversation to understand that roughly three quarters of the jobs that are out there are going to require a degree. While you might have a good paying job for a few years, to sustain a career you do need to have a degree. That hasn't changed, and job providers are still asking for degrees.

“So, it really is in people's best interest to get a degree. And the only way to make that affordable is to have the state commit to funding higher education. It's really that conversation we need to have. It needs to be casual, and it needs to be in the district at home when one sees their legislator in church, in the grocery store, or walking on the street. Those are the types of conversations we need to have, not just for MSU, but for all our institutions in Michigan.”

“When you speak with your representatives, make it as localized as possible. Talk not only of your personal experience here at Michigan State University but help them understand what we're doing in your backyard and across the state. Between AgBioResearch and MSU Extension, we've got research stations all across the state. MSU Extension operates in all 83 counties. MSU is across the state. That is part of our mission. It goes beyond just your personal experience here on campus. 

"Help them understand what we're doing in their backyard and make it as personal as possible. Because that investment in MSU really does go a long way, not only for degree attainment, but for the delivery of extension services and our agriculture community across the state. We play a very wide role and understanding what we do as a university here in the state of Michigan is really important for Spartans and for folks who may not affiliate as a Spartan but who understand that we are still in your backyard and we're there and we're helping in the community.”

MSU Today a...

What are some tips for adjusting from working from home back to a nine-to five-schedule in the office?

First of all, be easy on yourself,” advises Hall. “We've been living in a weird state of reality for the past several months, and so practice some grace and show yourself some grace. We're so used to just rolling out of bed in our sweats and then jumping into a Zoom call, but when you have to get ready for a commute, you have to pack a lunch and you have to let your dog out. Start doing that so that the first day back and the first week back, you won't be so stressed that by the time you get to work, you are panting and sweating and just overly anxious. Another thing that I think is really important for people to do, whether you're working at home or in the office or in a hybrid model, is that you need to create a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule.

“It's an important way to keep yourself accountable, keep yourself on track, and give yourself a roadmap. But also you can see where your time drains are. A lot of us have those times sucks and you're like, ‘Wow, I should have done this by the end of the day on Wednesday, and I haven't even gotten started.’ It can let you look back and see where you're having those types of bottlenecks. 

“Another thing that I think that a lot of us, including myself, need to remind ourselves is to be generous when scheduling your meetings and assigning yourself tasks. If you're going to do a meeting from 9:00 to 10:00, don't necessarily schedule the next meeting at 10:00. You have to factor in some time because it might run over. You have to take breaks. You have to check your emails. Giving yourself that cushion is very important.

“Another thing I want to really emphasize is that a lot of things that we did before the pandemic we did them that way because we always did them that way. And we didn't really question our routines or our processes. Now is an opportunity to hit the reset button. We realized during this pandemic and working from home that we could be creative and streamline processes and be very innovative. As you go back to work, don't necessarily go back to the same old same old. Think of some ways you can make jobs more efficient. Now is a really good opportunity to hit the reset button.”

What are some tangible ways that employees can practice self-care during the workday if they feel anxious or overwhelmed?

“It is normal that people are feeling stressed out right now. I'm feeling stressed out right now. We are dealing with the Delta variant, and we haven't been in the office for a long period of time. Things are very new, and things are constantly changing. Realize that it's normal to feel stressed out and out of sorts. I think practicing grace is an important first step.

“Another thing on self-care is to take five minutes for yourself. Practice meditation. Listen to music. Go for a walk. Hang out with your pets. Do things like that and block out time to reset. We're still living in a pandemic, and it's going to be even more difficult as people transition back and as people who have children transition back to the school year. A lot of kids are going back to school; how do you negotiate that? Know that you need to take that time out for yourself. 

“The other thing that I think is very important is to solicit social support, whether that means leaning on your coworkers or commiserating with them. Be transparent with your boss about what kind of needs or apprehensions you may have.  Join some type of employee resource group or support group where you have other people who you can talk to. Lean on people who are in your professional network. I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have a great network of people I can lean on, bounce questions off, and ask for help. If it's to the point that you're depressed, because a lot of people are depressed, reach out to your employee assistance plan and try to find some type of counseling and do things that support your mental health.”

What about for employees who may be asked to come to the office more than they may be comfortable? What are some good tactics for addressing those concerns with their supervisors?

“This really resonates with me because I have a child who is immunocompromised and is on immunosuppressants. I had a very frank conversation with my boss, and I said, ‘I don't feel comfortable coming in right now because she's very, very sick.’ And he was so cool about it. He was like, ‘No, no, we want to help you.’ This past year and a half, people have become more empathetic. They realize that times are tough. Be transparent about what you're going through rather than try to come back and be resentful because you should've said something that you didn't.

“But there are situations where you just can't work remotely. You are a nurse or you’re with an organization which is just not allowing people to work remotely. There are still some things that you could try to do. You could try to have a schedule where you are coming in only a couple of days a week, or you could try to ask for a certain type of space where you could be more socially distant from people. You could ask those around you, ‘I've got some problems. I have some concerns. Do you mind masking?’ Be transparent and proactive. Also, if you feel that you cannot come back for whatever reason, arm yourself with data.

“You can tell your boss, ‘Hey, for the past year and a half, I've been working at home and things are working out okay. I've been able to do my work. I have been able to be proficient. I haven't had complaints from customers, clients, or coworkers. And I’m productive. Let me show you how I'll hold myself accountable in the future.’ Try to negotiate and say, ‘Hey, why don't you let me continue to work remotely from home until you see a problem, and then we can try to revisit that. But if things aren't broken, why try to fix them?’ And that all goes part and parcel with explaining why you want to work from home; be able to address the concerns that your boss may have.

“A big concern for a lot of bosses is that they're afraid about the office culture. They feel things may not be as cohesive when people aren't in the office seeing each other face to face. But you can talk about having Zoom meetings on a regular basis - one-on-one or in groups - or meeting people socially distanced for short periods of time so that you can see their faces. Hopefully, you can reach some type of compromise or happy medium where you allay your boss's concerns, and you've also allayed some of your own.”

From the employer's perspective, what are some things they can do to help their employees transition smoothly back into the office?

“Don't expect things to be perfect when you come back. For example, I haven't worked the photocopier in my office for a year and a half. Trust me, Russ, I won't know what to do if paper gets stuck in there. I'm going to be calling someone for help. So imagine there are going to be hiccups. Things are going to take a little bit longer. For example, my husband just went back to work. He's an attorney with the state of Michigan, and he works on the eighth floor. He has to budget more time to get up to his office because either he has to walk up the stairs, or only one or two people can go in the elevator. Can you imagine eight o'clock when everyone's going in? So, you have to expect that things are not going to be like they were before.

“You've got to also practice regular check-ins with your employees to make sure that you discuss their concer...

“It's great to be back,” Akmon says. “I did work here at the MSU Museum as an undergrad. I did what I like to affectionately refer to as grunt work, painting a lot of walls, helping with a lot of exhibitions, and putting the vinyl on the walls. I was an art history and museum studies student at the time. It's interesting to look back. I really think those were the first steps that actually launched my career. It exposed me to museums in a new way, and I got some theoretical training with some practical hands on experience. And when I left MSU, I ended up going to grad school and studying something completely different. And as luck would have it, instead of actually going into that field, I ended up in a museum as I finished my graduate studies and then began my journey. It's brought me back here almost 20 years later. I would have never imagined that I'd be back here at MSU working for the museum, but it's a bit of a homecoming. It's great to be back.”

Akmon describes the mission of Science Gallery Detroit and tells why he was excited to add director of the MSU Museum to his responsibilities. And he shares some of his short- and long-term goals for the Museum.

“The very first thing we're going to do is put our heads down and actually put together a strong strategic plan and think about, in that planning process, what are the types of resources we need? What does our programming look like over the next five years? In general, and especially coming out of consulting, I've learned that one of the number one barriers that prohibits organizations from truly flourishing in the arts sector is not planning out far enough. You don't have enough time to think creatively, to fundraise, to market, and to educate your audiences. We're going to put our heads down and really build a strong roadmap. And in that process, we'll really understand and figure out what we're going to do. But I think there are some overarching things we can already assume.

“One of the things we realize is we've got this beautiful building. It's an old building, and it's geographically in the heart of the campus. But it's also limited. We already know that we're going to have to find a way of doing a little bit of what I call the push pull model. We want to pull people into the museum, but we're also going to have to push activities out into the campus community. Even this fall, we're already thinking about that with the first exhibition we're going to open when the museum reopens in September. We have some exhibits that we’ll probably be embedding in the STEM building, and we’ll be partnering with the Greater Lansing Arts Council to do some things up and down Grand River. And we're putting all the programming out over campus, like the workshops and performances. None of that will actually happen in the Museum.

“We’ll be thinking broadly about how we embed things across the campus community. We know we're competing for time and attention. We have to meet people where they are. We have to be relevant. We have to be creative and innovative in that programming. So, it's really top of mind to think critically about the partnerships we have in student success and academic success and how we support that. We want to be truly relevant in the life of students. Nothing would please me more than to just even see students studying in this building. People think you have to go to a museum only to see exhibitions, but I like to think of this as a third space on campus where people can just come sit and relax. We all had those experiences when we were undergrads, right? There were different places around campus that we went to. So, it's my heart's desire that the Museum will be that for our undergrads today.”

Akmon says collaboration with campus partners will be one of his key goals.

“I feel so fortunate that I have such great peers that I've already met across campus. My colleague Monica at the Broad Art Museum is just absolutely phenomenal. So are our friends over at the Residential College and our friends over at the Museum Studies Program. Everybody's really keen to collaborate. There's a shared focus on impact on the community. And we all know that we can go farther together than alone. We're already in so many ways coming to the table and thinking together. In fact, the MSU Museum, the Broad Art Museum, and WKAR are going to program an art event shortly after we open. And that just kind of materialized over the course of a week. People just say, ‘Hey, we've got this idea, do you want to be part of it?’ You'll see a lot of that at the MSU Museum going forward.”

What are some challenges to reaching those goals and some opportunities, too?

“There are all kinds of challenges. We know that our campus community is busy. We're competing for time and attention, and we need to be relevant. And that's always a challenge, right? We're in a very loud and noisy world with so many activities happening. We're very pragmatic about the institution we're in. The physical building, as I mentioned, is very old. It has some really wonderful assets to it, but it also has some challenges.

“We don't have a lot of gallery space. We don't have a lot of workshop space. Part of the reason that we don't do programming here is we don't have a lot of programming space. So, there are certainly plenty of challenges for not just our museum, but I think museums in general, especially as we navigate COVID. The whole industry and the traditional business model have been disrupted. Figuring even that out is really hard, but I always like to look for the silver linings. I have an entrepreneurial mindset. I like these challenges and it enables us to think boldly and creatively about what a new future can be and how a museum like this can serve its community for that next chapter. We're just going to tackle each challenge in that manner going forward.”

What are some of the challenges and opportunities for museums in general and arts and culture in general?

“One of the big things right now for museums as I keep alluding to is a very competitive landscape out there. We see attendance declining nationally in museums, which is interesting because museums remain among the absolute most trusted institutions in our country. There are a lot of things that people are pessimistic about, but museums and cultural centers seem to be still rated as trusted institutions. We face these weird challenges where we're trusted and celebrated but attendance is declining. That goes back to this idea of how we compete for time and attention. How do we make sure we're relevant? How are we responding to the needs of the communities we seek to serve? That has to be top of mind. We also really have to think about experience design.

“That's what we refer to as the experience economy. And that's really critical. What does it mean to come and visit the museum? What does the experience feel like from the minute you walk into the door to the minute you leave?” 

When you were coming out of high school, why was MSU the place for you?

“I grew up in Metro Detroit, but my dad worked in government. He got transferred up to Flint and we lived in a small town. And one of the first things right away that I...

Christine So (she/her) is ASMSU's Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer and Senior Advisor to APASO, that's the Asian Pacific American Student Organization.  Kelly High McCord (she/her) is Director of Human Resources for Residential Hospitality Services. Dr. Ashley Green (she/her) is Assistant Dean of Administration and Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for International Studies and Programs. And Dr. Jim Lucas (he him) is Assistant Dean of Global Education and Curriculum at the Office of Undergraduate Education.

What's the relationship between DEI and the COVID-19 pandemic? In what ways are people differentially affected based on their identities?

“We know that some people are at a higher risk because of their race or ethnicity due to underlying conditions, or more so because of lack of access to regular healthcare and preventions. But there could also be differentials in the impacts of dealing with the trauma or the aftermath,” says Green. “So if you come from an area where numerous loved ones have died from the disease, you now have an added layer of trauma or grief that impacts your mental and physical health due to the actual COVID-19 disease.

“And I have to also mention the differential impacts on our workforce, such as differences in salary adjustments, furloughs, possible inequities in work assignments, power dynamics, and from a personal perspective, women who are juggling heightened full-time work and additional duties at home while managing children being schooled from home. And then more specifically, as it relates to some of the international population, they have had to navigate a number of issues such as border closings disabling them from entering their home countries or leaving to come to the U.S., navigating time zone challenges when trying to participate in courses and meetings virtually, less than ideal internet in various parts of the world, and fears of being unable to obtain a visa for educational or professional traveling thereby resulting in decreased opportunities to travel, which impacts international research and global experiences for our faculty and students. And then lastly, other issues of DEI that are exacerbated in virtual spaces include lack of connection and hands-on physical support. There are some language barriers that are heightened in virtual spaces or while wearing a mask as well.”

“In Residential and Hospitality Services and beyond on campus, many of our frontline team members are people of color and women,” High McCord says. “And so they have been affected in having to make really difficult decisions regarding whether to come to campus. Do I feel safe? Am I going to bring something home to my parents that I care for? Some healthcare institutions may have been closed or compromised in various ways. If you have childcare issues, where can you put your child when you still need to work? There have been a number of challenges.

“We've had staff members who've lost people due to COVID-19, and they’re dealing with the loss. The workforce is very thin right now, and so they're putting in a lot of hours to help us cover and take care of the campus that's still here and operating during the pandemic.”

“In addition to childcare issues, we're hearing about people who have family responsibilities in terms of elder care, and then also students who may be helping to support their families,” Lucas adds. “And so for them, maybe their parents or guardians are out of work and they need to work more. And then of course, we have to look at the jobs sometimes, as Kelly alluded to. If you have a position as a frontline worker or in the hospitality industry, you're being put at the forefront of being exposed to COVID.

“And I just want to also stress something we haven’t talked about enough. We’re seeing internet access issues for our low-income students and our rural students. We've actually had students who've been driving to McDonald's or to Starbucks to sit outside to take tests or to do their homework. And we know that people from certain cultural backgrounds may not feel comfortable accessing medical care or mental health care. And so they may be suffering in silence. And then of course we have to think globally about who has access to what vaccines and who's able to obtain them easily, but also what is the United States' role in supporting COVID vaccination globally?”

We know that vaccine and mask wearing policies have caused some controversial conversation. Can you explain some of the bias or apprehensions around mask wearing and vaccinations?

“To be candid, there were some African American men who were initially hesitant to wear masks in public spaces for fear of being targeted or profiled due to negative stereotypes,” Green says. “As it relates to the vaccine, we also have to acknowledge that there are some in the African American community who are not trusting of the medical professionals or political figures, given the systematic oppression that the community has felt. Some have even cited the Tuskegee Airmen syphilis experiment where black men were intentionally and secretively injected with syphilis as a reason to not trust the vaccine. Ultimately, there are some concerns. They think that there's some ulterior motive or hidden agenda for the government to gain more power and control or for the medical industry to make profit off of them as Guinea pigs.

“I'm supportive of the science, but whether you agree or disagree, it is a reality for some that needs to be acknowledged. Then some people are just simply pro-choice in every way and are against being forced to do anything.

“There's also some concern on the other side where people still want to continue wearing masks, even when and if a mask mandate is lifted and they're just concerned about being teased or looked at like they're odd when they're still wearing their masks. So we are really seeing the concerns on both sides. And again, whether you agree or disagree, I think it's important to acknowledge everyone's feelings when trying to deal with this.”

Christine, what do you think students are most worried about in general coming back to in-person this year?

“A lot of students are still concerned about their own safety in the classroom,” So says. “There have been things going around about how people are creating fake vaccination cards or fake COVID tests. So even though a student may submit a vaccination card, what's to say it's real or not real?

“A lot of students, including myself, really want empathy. I know some professors were more empathetic than others. I feel like some professors were very accommodating and others were not. So I'm kind of interested to see and concerned about how professors will treat students this fall because we all know the transition back to a somewhat normal year will be very challenging for not just students, but the faculty and staff in our institution. So I'm just really hoping for some empathy and mental health. And transitioning of two basically new freshmen classes will be a big learning curve for not just those students, but for the faculty and staff supporting those students with resources and teaching them. And something I want to emphasize too is the pandemic still exists. It’s still going.”

“Faculty, staff, and students with sensory issues are also affected by masks,” adds Lucas. “It may inhibit their ability to read lips and it can be harder to hear sometimes. We’re thinking through how we'll be doing fall welcome events and the scope and the scale of those events. We're basically going to be repeating some of t...

The DEI Steering Committee was formed by MSU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. in December 2019 and is co-chaired by Wanda D Lipscomb PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and College of Human Medicine senior associate dean for diversity and inclusion and Luis Alonzo Garcia, director of Migrant Student Services.

The committee was charged with taking inventory of the university's efforts related to DEI across campus, identifying potential synergies, pinpointing existing gaps and establishing a framework for making MSU a national leader in DEI. The framework includes 27 recommendations categorized by four major themes; increase diversity, ensure equity, promote inclusion, and enhance outreach and engagement. 

Lipscomb and Garcia share the committee’s definitions for diversity, equity, and inclusion. And they detail the process the committee used to compile the research and recommendations in the plan. They also discuss the four key themes in detail and some of the key recommendations in the plan.

“President Stanley made it clear from the beginning of this process that he wants MSU to become a national leader in DEI,” says Garcia. “We cannot become a national leader if we just simply settle for what we historically have done.

“We cannot be a national leader if we don’t embrace different communities and bring them to the table. At the same time, we have to make sure that their voices are being heard. One of the things that was bought out of the report is that we began to look at the landscape of college aged students in Michigan; it's becoming quite flat. Where are all these state institutions in the state of Michigan going get their students? As we began to bring in new students, what will those students look like? What are their needs?

“What diverse faculty do we need to make sure the institution is providing a situation where students, faculty, and staff say ‘Wow, they understand me. I feel good here. I can see myself here.’ That's our core mission. It doesn't matter how diverse we are in the student body, though, if we don't graduate students. We looked at that, too.”

“If there is one thing MSU must do it’s that MSU must invest resources,” says Lipscomb. “We're talking financial resources, people resources, and programmatic resources. When you look at the institutions around the country who are distinguishing themselves, there is this embedding of diversity, equity, and inclusion into the day-to-day life of the university. So, if there's a take home message for us to become a national leader, it means we all have to be working towards it. It means we each have to be held accountable regardless of what your title is. It's very easy to think, oh, well, you got these diversity deans and this chief diversity officer to handle this. We're not superheroes. We're not super people. We're just people.

“Your values are demonstrated based on where you put your resources, and MSU has the potential to become a national leader. But it does mean that MSU has to be willing to realign resources and clarify the use of resources. The other issue that was very clear from the benchmarking that was done, and we talk about this in the last section of the report, we have to align leadership. We want campus to understand that this was a presidential initiative. This was something that President Stanley said he wanted to do. The establishment of the DEI steering committee and the direction to us that our work had to feed into the strategic plan we took that very seriously. The thought that we can begin to weave diversity, equity, and inclusion as a priority across all the activities of the university is how we can become a national leader.

“It won't be putting up a poster; it won't be saying, ‘Oh, this is what we're going to call this initiative.’ It will take integration across the mission areas. We think there's great opportunity because we have wonderful, bright, intelligent folks who can do this. We just need to create the avenue for the conversation. I think that is what we hope this plan does. It gives us the avenue for the conversation.”

“The one point that I want to amplify that Wanda pointed out was the issue of accountability,” Garcia adds. “The only way this plan will go forward is that the ministers and the leadership of the institution understand it, buy into it, and participate in moving it forward. Because if we simply say we're going to put a program together annually and that's it. That's not what we're talking about. If that's what you got out of this report, we did a miserable job. It's really looking at the full operations at the unit level, at the college level, and at the program level and really taking it in and digesting it. And some of it won't be fun. Let's be clear.

“If we are going to become a national leader, it's going to take effort. It's going to take resources and it's going to take some grit. If we do things right, we're going to come out in a good position.”

“This has to be a living document,” says Lipscomb. “This has to be a living process, and I think if you talk with people on the committee, I think we all learn things from each other. We certainly stumbled across lots of things as we went along and it's like Luis talks about, it's going to take some grit. It's a helpful endeavor if we have a positive attitude. In order for us to move forward, we have to take positive steps. We have to do something different tomorrow that we didn't do today and that's challenging for the university because the university is broad. Dr. Bennett talks about what he envisions with taking the report and actually going back through the recommendations, prioritizing them, and figuring out what's feasible. I've said this to the directors and in session that we're going to have to be the people who roll up our sleeves and get to work.

“It's going to have to be us. We all have to step back and ask more difficult questions than we have before. I do believe that when we start to look at the executive VPs in place now at the university, I think each of them in their own way has talked about the importance of interfacing diversity, equity, and inclusion to the lines that they're responsible for. We have challenged the president to be thoughtful about what he's responsible for. 

“You make progress because you walked a lot of feet and then you got some yards and then eventually you got a mile. And sometimes it can be daunting because you want to be at the mile marker, but great athletes get to the mile marker by the little things they do every day. And that's what MSU is going to have to. That's what I'm hopeful for.

“Some people will have positive comments. Some people will say we didn't go far enough. Well, if we can just start with what we have, we can grow and breathe life into the next stage. I think that's a responsibility that all of us have.”

“As Wanda summed it up, this is really not the end of the DEI,” continues Garcia. “The plan is a process that is going forward and that's really where the energies need to be. But as I indicated, I think we have some wonderful opportunities to rethink our institution in ways that we have never done so before and to have different voices and different languages at the table as well.”

What are some key takeaways you'd like people joining in on our conversation to take away about the plan?

“Find a place in the plan where you're ready to start and get to work wherever you are in the institution, whether you're in a department or whether you're in a large unit,” Lipscomb says. “Begin the conversation as it relates to your level and as it relates to your unit and be a part of the conversation. Be a part of the work...

A diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer interrupted Judy's career as an author.

“Like for everyone else, it came at the worst possible time. But cancer really doesn't have a great time,” says Pearson. “I was a newlywed. I had met the man of my dreams. My youngest son had launched into a great career as an electrical engineer. And my oldest son is just retired, but he was career Air Force and was about to deploy to Afghanistan. And then I found the lump two months after a clean mammogram and through it all discovered that there is a condition that's much more well-known now called dense breast tissue. I tell everyone to never stop being vigilant about your health anywhere, but especially your breasts. It doesn't matter if you get a clean mammogram, you can still have things that mammography can't see through if you have dense tissue.

“The fortunate thing was after my mastectomy, they found three other tumors that by the time I would have gone around to the next mammogram, I would not have survived quite probably. It was triple negative breast cancer, which is rare and very aggressive. And so I made a deal with God and the universe. If I survive this, I'm going to do something with it. I don't know what that is, but just guide me and I will do something.”

Pearson talks about why she chose to attend MSU and how the university has impacted her. While many of Judy's friends from her small hometown of South Haven thought MSU might be too big for them. Judy was attracted to the “hum” at MSU.

“I had high school classmates who came to school here and found it too big. They felt lost. There were myriad issues, but always surrounding its size because South Haven then and now is only about 5,000 people. We had 200 kids in our graduating class. For me, there was a different feeling partially because I was familiar with the university, but partially because I just love the hum of it.”

Recognizing that healing is helping, Judy founded A 2nd Act.

“A Second Act celebrates and supports women survivors of all cancers who are giving back to the greater good using their experiences and their life span, whatever those days are, to give back to the greater good to the world around them.”

Discovered at MSU, Cisplatin would become the backbone of combination chemotherapy. Pearson believes it saved her life.

“My oncologist sat me down after my mastectomy and said, ‘Okay, this treatment is going to be really rough. And usually people have to have a three or a four week span in between treatments. You're very healthy other than that little bit of cancer. We're going to make that an every other week occurrence.’ And even though I had no evidence of disease once the breast was removed, with triple negative cancer, I had had a 30 percent chance of it coming back without the chemotherapy. So I thought that was just too great of a chance. And she said, ‘We're going to hit you with three drugs’ then told me the names of the drugs. One of was Cisplatin.

“Then I go back home and two days later, the MSU alumni magazine arrives in my mailbox. And one of the featured articles was about Dr. Rosenberg, who invented Cisplatin here in 1965. And it wasn't until after my own treatment that I wrote an article talking about the fact that Dr. Rosenberg saved my life. When it was discovered, it was miraculous.

“It was the first platinum-based chemotherapy drug. And it's not without side effects, severe side effects, like horrible nausea, hair loss, and joint damage afterwards. But I would take all of those in exchange for my life. It was well worth it. The other really interesting connection is in 1971, Richard Nixon was facing a very iffy reelection and his aides came to him and said, ‘There's a bill making its way through Congress called the National Cancer Act. If you sign that, we are quite certain you will be reelected. It's a bipartisan issue. Democrats and Republicans both fear it, and we'll even toss in that we'll cure the disease by the Bicentennial.’ He signed it. It infused $1.8 billion, which is $8.4 billion today, into research. And at that time, Cisplatin was in final clinical trials. I don't know for certain, but I'm quite sure that some of that money went into the final trials for Cisplatin. Ironically in 1971 when Nixon signed that bill, I was an incoming freshman at Michigan State.”

Pearson talks more about her cancer diagnosis and journey through treatment as a survivor and not a victim.

“The diagnosis comes like a thunderbolt. It's like any catastrophic event. I read an article one time about the top 10 stressors in life. And besides the death of a loved one and a divorce, catastrophic illnesses is the next one. And so you get that kind of why me sort of thing. And I was actually talking to a pastor and asked why me? And he said, ‘When people ask that, I respond to them by saying, why not you? Should it be him? Should it be her? Why not you?’ And I thought, well, that's a good answer. I'm a researcher by profession. I very carefully researched my disease, my treatment, and my reconstruction. At no time did it occur to me to research survivorship. I didn't even think it was a thing. And that surprises me because I thought myself fairly well read. On the other side of all the treatment I started having unexpected and really quite frightening issues like night sweats, severe joint pain, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and brain fog, which for a writer is a really bad thing.

“When I went to my oncologist and asked why I hadn't been told, it wasn't like I wouldn't have taken the treatment. She said, which was very common 10 years ago, ‘It wasn't important to talk about. We were busy saving your life.’ I now know. And all of the folks that I interviewed for From Shadows to Life who were the architects of the cancer survivorship movement, their whole focus has been on making sure that survivorship is considered part of the cancer continuum. There's diagnosis and there's treatment. There may be adjunctive types of treatments after the main treatment's over, but survivorship is every bit as much of the cancer continuum. It's the rest of your life. The treatment is really a year, maybe a little longer, to get you to the rest of your life. Why not spend as much time focusing on learning about these issues and learning how to move beyond them?

“And that was why the survivorship movement launched and became so successful. Before the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship was founded by 23 people, all with a connection to cancer, and before they launched the cancer survivorship movement, we were called victims in the newspaper. And even after their 1986 founding, the newspaper articles all said victim. And even if the article was about them and the headline read survivors, not victims, the writer continued to call us victims in the article. It was hilarious. And so at first, the term survivor was a little foreign to me because I felt like I'd won the lottery by beating cancer. If you said to Vince Lombardi or George Patton ‘Wow, you survived that,’ they would have punched you in the face. I don't want to just be a survivor. I want to be a winner.

“And then I realized I was swimming upstream. Survivorship was already coined and I'm happy with that. I get it now. I totally get it. The other interesting thing about the idea of survivorship is if you experience a heart attack, boy, from the moment you have recovered or had whatever corrective surgery, they're starting to talk about rehab. They're starting to talk about you getting back to your life and what we're goin...

“We're investing $10.8 million in the partnership,” says Fred Stephan, president of Amcor Flexibles North America. “The partnership will create an endowed chair of sustainability professorship. The chair will conduct research into sustainability in the circular economy. In combination with that, we're also contributing towards some necessary building renovations that will offer students a modern facility and access to state-of-the-art technology. And it really is part and parcel of our ongoing strategy of open innovation as we strive to develop more sustainable packaging.”

“Amcor is really excited about growing our partnership with MSU for a couple of reasons,” adds Eric Roegner, president of Amcor Rigid Packaging. “At the heart of what Amcor is is innovation. That's how we've survived for 140 years. It's by constantly innovating the state of the art of technology that's allowed us to do that. There is so much opportunity out there that as we continue to look for the right set of partners to work with, you guys are the best. You have the biggest school for this.

“You graduate the most folks into the space. We have, the last time we checked, about 75 MSU grads active inside of our population. We know that this partnership will drive continued innovation across sustainability and across that ecosystem for us as well as for the world. We need an ecosystem of players to come together. We're a big player, the largest producer of rigid packaging in that space. But you guys are right there in the middle with everyone. You have MSU grads in just about every consumer-packaged good player and every packaging provider out there. You have a network of incredible people who are driving that innovation. We just see this as being a win-win across the whole ecosystem.”

Matt Daum is the director of the MSU School of Packaging.

“I can't overstate the importance of this gift and what it's going to mean to our school,” says Daum. “We're really at a critical juncture in the history of the school. And I can't be more thrilled to partner with a global leader like Amcor. We've talked and thought and visioned for many, many years about how do we take the school of packaging to the next level, and how do we prepare for the future? And this gift is going to do that. It's really going to help continue our separation from other packaging programs and keep us in a preeminent position.”

Stephan, Roegner, and Daum elaborate on how Amcor and the MSU School of Packaging define sustainability.

“We love plastic; we hate plastic waste,” says Roegner. “And one of our missions is to make sure that as soon as humanly possible, every one of our bottles is made out of 100 percent post-consumer resin. And after we make that bottle and the consumer uses it, they put the cap back on, it goes back, and 100 percent of them get recycled back in. We want to minimize the effect that our products have on the environment. And we are absolutely convinced that we're at the forefront with the most sustainable package by any metric.”

“We've made a pledge for our packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2025,” says Stephan. “And what we're really talking about is packaging that truly can be recycled or reused. That's how we're defining sustainable packaging. We've made substantial progress in that area as well. Close to 70 percent of our packaging is already recycled across the Amcor portfolio. We're working to close that gap between now and 2025. And the way we think about it is it's really a three-legged stool. We've got the product piece of it. We've got the infrastructure to actually be able to recycle. And then we've got behaviors, and we need people to actually take products to the right bin to be able to recycle. If we get all three of those in that three-legged stool in place, we're going to be making a lot of progress across the country.”

“Sustainability and trying to purposely and intentionally design your packaging to be more sustainable is now a customer expectation,” Daum adds. “It's a business imperative. Companies now don't have a choice but to really address this and be purposeful about it. We teach a material neutral perspective. Sustainability is built into our curriculum in most of the classes. This is where Amcor and MSU really have a similar vision and a similar commitment to doing what's right for the environment.

“That's why this partnership really fits well. It's not necessarily that there's bad packaging, there are bad packaging applications. You've got to have recycling facilities and infrastructure. You need to have waste management companies bought in. You've got to have your legislation all lined up. It's a very intricate problem. You can't solve it with just one specific solution. Part of the motivation behind this endowed chair is that we have a voice that thinks systematically and that thinks across the whole ecosystem, the whole value chain, and can bring a data-driven perspective into the conversation and help facilitate this partnership that has to happen between a lot of different places in order to have long-term solutions.”

Daum says more about the impact the gift will have on the school.

“We need to upgrade our facilities. We really need to match the facilities that we have with the leadership that we produce. But our facilities are quite dated. The last renovation was back in 1987. There were no cell phones then. There were no laptops. The way that classes were taught is different than today's needs. And we really want to create and update our facilities so that we're giving our students an environment that better matches what they're going to see when they go into industry. We also want the space to be a hub, a place where thought leaders from industry, government agencies, and NGOs feel like this is the place to be. This is the place to come when you can come and gather and talk about solving some of the great packaging and sustainability challenges.

“The building renovation in particular is about modernizing what we have. We want to continue to keep pace with the industry. The industry's growing 3 to 4 percent a year. And we know that we're going to have to eventually grow as well. But this phase one really is about bringing the level up of our current facility to make it what it needs to be. The other part of the gift is going to be given for an endowed chair position. And this is really critical. There's a certain element when you have an endowed position where you're saying to the academic community and to industry that this is a really important area. That's what we want to create here in the area of sustainable packaging.”

Daum describes the three key areas the endowed chair will focus on: research, teaching, and outreach – consistent with MSU’s land grant mission.

“We are convinced that in partnering with MSU, that we can promote and actually accelerate thought leadership in this space,” Roegner adds. “We need more. There's much more innovation to be had, and we think MSU is the place that's going to drive that. And we're just glad to be able to partner with you, both in that chair for the professorship as well as helping out with the facilities in the building. And this is going to be just a start of a relationship. And I'm looking forward to the next 75 MSU grads that we're going to get, bringing you all into our technology centers, letting us work with you on the whole spectrum of different opportunities out there. Because, we have to crack the code on this. When I talk to my kids about what I do and how proud I am to be here, in today's generation, sometimes packaging of any type gets a bad name for a variety of reasons.

“I say, Really? You really want to move the needle? You really wa...

“It's been a remarkable two years, Russ, and I'm so glad that as we look towards the fall to be a part of MSU and the important work that's going on here,” he says. “I think what still stands out the most since I've come is the people - the students, faculty, and staff, and the alums. The commitment and love they show for Michigan State University has been impressive and it's really helped us pull through this past year and a half or so together in a very positive way.

“I've had a chance now recently that we're gathering again to talk to alumni and to talk to students. I'm impressed by the fact that, away from campus, they talk about how they have stuck with MSU. They're excited about MSU and they're excited about coming back. I think that's a testament, again, to the hard work of our faculty and staff and the resiliency of our students during what were really remarkably difficult times.”

Are there some things that have surprised you along the way or some lessons learned in your first couple of years?

“I am impressed by how much students care about the college experience and being in East Lansing. I think when we made that first decision to go remote, I expected more students would return home than did. That's a testament to how much they want to be with their fellow classmates and how much they want to stay in the college environment.”

As you look forward to the fall and the next couple of months, what are you thinking about?

“I'm really excited. We are paying close attention to what's happening with the Delta variant and what's happening in cases in around the United States, but particularly, in our region, because that dictates a lot of what we are able to do or not do. And I think one of the things I want to say just to reassure the campus is that we are still going to continue this policy of safety first. We are going to be monitoring what's happening in the community. We're not going to be doing things that run counter to what's coming down from the CDC, from DHHS, and from Ingham County Health.

“Our vaccination rate for this region appears to be high, and which is great. I applaud the people of East Lansing to continue, everybody to continue, to get vaccinated if they have not been. And that's the message, of course, that we're giving to our students, faculty, and staff that the key to opening this fall is to have as many people vaccinated as possible. I would love to see 100 percent of people vaccinated here. I think that makes a lot of sense. We'll continue to emphasize that; we'll continue to show people how it's easy to get a vaccine.

“There are still some people who may have hesitation or concern, and so we've got to continue to outreach to them and educate them because it's so important going forward. We're going to continue to monitor this. If the situation changes and we see a growth in cases, we'll be prepared to deal with it. And that could be a resumption of masking. That could be an expansion of a testing program. There are a number of things we can do. And, of course, continued education and providing optimal access to vaccines would be a huge part of that issue as well. So I'm excited about going forward, but we're going in with eyes wide open. We know that people have some concerns and we want to make sure we're listening to them and understanding what those concerns are.

“But the best way, Russ, and you said it to begin with, the best way to take care of this problem is for as many people as possible to get vaccinated. And I look forward to the moment when the FDA approves the vaccine for children under 12 because I think that's going to help some parents get more confidence and have fewer concerns going forward. I think students need to go back to school. I think it's very important, but I think many families will be more comfortable when they know their children have been vaccinated, even though the risk of disease for children as we know overall is very low. It's still a concern. If I was a parent of a younger child, I'd certainly have concerns.”

What are some of the challenges and opportunities facing MSU and higher education?

“We’ve just gone through another hopefully very brief but significant economic upheaval. And, of course, we had 2009-10 when, again, the economy was troubled. And I think what you saw during that time was a college education was extraordinarily valuable. The difference for many people between employment and unemployment was a college education. Getting that message across about the importance of going to college and completing college is important. We need to continue to speak more about the access we're providing for students. There used to be a philosophy as one looked at higher education of selectivity and how elite you were was the most important thing.

“That was the wrong focus, and I think we've changed the focus now to how we make sure that the students we accept a Michigan State University, and we want to accept as many as we can, succeed at Michigan State University and go on to the productive life that a college degree helps people achieve. That, to me, is of continued importance. Student success is going to be a high priority for us as we go forward in the strategic plan. And then how do we eliminate the gaps in graduation rates? That's something that troubles me and others. We need to make sure that the students coming here graduate from Michigan State University.

“One of our major focuses over the next few years under my leadership is going to be to work to abolish those gaps. And that's a tall order, but it's doable, and that's something we'll focus on. The other thing is, again, we've recognized how important research is. Biomedical research has certainly come to the fore of this miraculous ability to turn out this vaccine, to see how well these mRNA vaccines work. That shows again the power of research and innovation and how it can really change people's lives in a very concrete manner.

“Climate change remains a major challenge. What is Michigan State doing and what expertise is being applied to make a difference in this area?

“What are we doing to help the economic development of the state? How do we make Michigan a better place where people want to live? How do we create a society where people want to stay or a community where people want to stay in Michigan and see this as a place? Working remotely is more and more possible. There will be more of a premium on states that really provide quality of life than I think there's ever been before.”

MSU Today airs Sunday mornings at 9:00 on 105.1 FM and AM 870 and WKAR.org. Find “MSU Today with Russ White” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.