Michigan State University academics
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Michigan State University (MSU) offers over 200 academic programs at its East Lansing, Michigan campus. MSU is well known for its academic programs in education and agriculture, and the university pioneered the studies of
packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...
, horticulture and music therapy. MSU has one of the premier hospitality schools in the United States, and the
study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...
program is one of the largest of any university in the nation, offering more than 300 programs in more than 60 countries on all continents, including Antarctica. MSU's Office of the University
Ombudsperson An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
is the oldest continually operating ombudsman office at a college or university in the country. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: ::Advertising (565) ::Biology/Biological Sciences (477) ::Psychology (402) ::Exercise Science and Kinesiology (388) ::Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management (365) ::Finance (343) ::Mass Communication/Media Studies (300) As a research university, MSU is one of 66 members of the Association of American Universities. Since its inception as a small agricultural college in 1855, MSU has put a strong emphasis on research. Research performed at MSU has greatly contributed to scientific progress and discoveries related to
hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, homogenized milk, chemotherapy drug cisplatin, and
Germanium Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors s ...
isotope Ge-60.


Organization

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
is organized into 17 degree-granting colleges: *College of Agriculture and Natural Resources *College of Arts and Letters * The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management
College of Communication Arts and Sciences
* College of Education *
College of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
* College of Human Medicine * James Madison College *
College of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...
*
Lyman Briggs College The Lyman Briggs College (LBC) is a residential college located at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. Established as a residential college in 1967, Lyman Briggs was a residential school within the College of Natural ...
*College of Music * College of Natural Science *
College of Nursing Nurse education consists of the theoretical and practical training provided to nurses with the purpose to prepare them for their duties as nursing care professionals. This education is provided to student nurses by experienced nurses and other med ...
* College of Osteopathic Medicine * Residential College in the Arts and Humanities *College of Social Science * College of Veterinary Medicine


Demographics

As of the 2016-2017 academic year, Michigan State had the ninth largest student body in the United States. As of Fall 2021, there are 49,659 total students, with 38,574 undergraduates and 11,085 graduate and professional students. The undergraduate student body is 51.6% female and 48.4% male. While 73.5% of the entire student body comes from 82 out of 83 counties in the State of Michigan, also represented are all 50 states in the U.S. and about 126 other countries. MSU has about 5,670 faculty and academic staff members, and a student-faculty ratio of 16:1. Like other large American universities, MSU has a large number of teaching assistants teaching upper-level courses. This led '' The Princeton Review'' in 2005 to rank MSU eleventh worst in the category of "teaching assistants teach too many upper-level courses".


Rankings

MSU ranks 93rd in the world according to '' Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', with '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranking MSU 83rd in their Best National University Rankings. The university has over 200 academic programs, several of them highly ranked. ''U.S. News'' ranks MSU's graduate-level Elementary Teacher Education, Secondary Teacher Education,
Curriculum and Instruction Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) is a field within education which seeks to research, develop, and implement curriculum changes that increase learner achievement in educational settings. The field focuses on how people learn and the best ways to ed ...
, and Rehabilitation Counseling programs number one in the nation. '' U.S. News & World Report'' also ranks MSU's Nuclear Physics program number one in the country. Indeed, MSU's Physics & Astronomy department ranks highly based on the number and impact of faculty publications. In addition to this, ''U.S. News'' ranks MSU's undergraduate and graduate Supply Chain Management programs in the
Eli Broad College of Business The Eli Broad College of Business is the business college at Michigan State University. The college has programs in accounting, finance, human resource management, management, marketing, supply chain management, and hospitality business, ...
number one in the nation. The National Communication Association ranks MSU doctoral programs as the nation's most effective in educating researchers in health communication and communication technology. MSU also is ranked in the top four in several other communication fields, including international/intercultural communication, mass communication and interpersonal communication. Other programs of note include criminal justice, music therapy, hospitality business,
packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...
, political science, and communications. MSU's
study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...
program is one of the largest of any university in the United States, with 2,832 MSU students studying abroad in 2018–19 in over 60 countries on all continents, including Antarctica.


Research

For fiscal year 2019-2020, MSU's ''total'' research expenditures were $713.2 million, and ''Federally'' funded research expenditures were $329.7 million, capping a long history of productive research. In the late 19th century, botany professor
William J. Beal William James Beal (March 11, 1833 – May 12, 1924) was an American botanist. He was a pioneer in the development of hybrid corn and the founder of the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden. Biography Beal was born in Adrian, Michigan, to William and ...
's research consisted of using cross-fertilization leading to
hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, becoming one of the pioneers in the development of
hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...
corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
and doubling the yield of corn plantings at the time. In the early 20th century, MSU dairy professor and industry pioneer G. Malcolm Trout made significant progress in milk production methods, though he did not invent the processes of pasteurization nor
homogenization Homogeneity is a sameness of constituent structure. Homogeneity, homogeneous, or homogenization may also refer to: In mathematics *Transcendental law of homogeneity of Leibniz * Homogeneous space for a Lie group G, or more general transformati ...
. In the 1960s, Chemistry professor Barnett Rosenberg and colleagues Loretta VanCamp and Thomas Krigas observed that certain platinum compounds inhibited cell division, and by 1969 demonstrated that these compounds cured solid tumors, leading to the development of the leading chemotherapy drug that eventually resulted from this work, cisplatin. Today, Michigan State continues its research with facilities such as the
U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
-sponsored MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory and a particle accelerator called the
National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), located on the campus of Michigan State University was a isotope, rare isotope research facility in the United States.Bruns, Adam (January 2009How Are You Helping Companies Grow?''Site Sel ...
. The
Facility for Rare Isotope Beams The Facility for Rare Isotopes Beams (FRIB) is a scientific user facility for nuclear science, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), Michigan State University (MSU), and the State of Michigan. Michigan State Unive ...
(FRIB)—a $730M scientific user facility funded by the
U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and manages the research and development of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in the United States. ...
Office of Science, MSU, and the State of Michigan—will advance nuclear physics and provide research opportunities for scientists and students from around the globe. FRIB is expected to be fully operational in 2022 and is ahead of schedule. In 2004, scientists at the Cyclotron produced and observed a new isotope of the element
germanium Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white and similar in appearance to silicon. It is a metalloid in the carbon group that is chemically similar to its group neighbors s ...
, called Ge-60. In 2004, Michigan State, in consortium with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the government of Brazil, broke ground on the 4.1-meter Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in the
Andes Mountains The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the List of mountain ranges#Mountain ranges by length, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range i ...
of Chile. The consortium telescope will allow the Physics & Astronomy department to study galaxy formation and origins. Since 1999, MSU has been part of another consortium called the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor, which aims to develop biotechnology research in the State of Michigan. The College of Communication Arts and Sciences' Quello Center researches current issues of information and communication management. Avida, an artificial life software platform to study the evolutionary biology of self-replicating and evolving computer programs, is under active development by
Charles Ofria Dr. Charles A. Ofria is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University, the director of the Digital Evolution (DEvo) Lab there, and Director of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Actio ...
in the Digital Evolution Lab of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Albert Fert, an
Adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...
at MSU, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Peter Grünberg. In February 2010, a $25 million grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation to the university to develop a Bio/computational Evolution in Action Consortium (BEACON) within the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building.


Endowment

MSU's (private, non-Morrill Act)
endowment Endowment most often refers to: *A term for human penis size It may also refer to: Finance *Financial endowment, pertaining to funds or property donated to institutions or individuals (e.g., college endowment) *Endowment mortgage, a mortgage to b ...
started in 1916 when the Engineering Building burned down. Automobile magnate R. E. Olds helped the program stay afloat with a gift of $100,000. While this opened the door for other types of private donations, MSU has often lagged behind peer institutions in terms of endowments. As recently as the early 1990s, MSU was last among the eleven Big Ten schools, with barely over $100 million in endowment funds. However, in the early 2000s, the university started a campaign to increase the size of the endowment. At the close of FY 2004–05, the endowment had risen to $1.325 billion, raising the university to sixth of the 11 Big Ten schools in terms of endowment; within $2M of the fifth-rated school. As of June 30, 2021, MSU's endowment had a market value of $4.4 billion.


Programs


James Madison College

James Madison College (JMC), one of MSU's three residential colleges, started in 1967. The concept behind Madison College was to merge the best attributes of a small public affairs college with the resources of a major university. Though JMC started as an experiment, it is now a well-respected liberal arts program. Madison admits about 320 students each year, holding the total student body around 1,150. Classes in the college are small, with an average of 25 students, and most instructors are tenure track
faculty Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument) A faculty is a legal in ...
with PhDs or occasionally PhD candidates. As a residential college, JMC has its classrooms, offices, and student housing together in Case Hall. As part of its "living-learning" philosophy, JMC requires freshmen students to live in Case during their freshman year. Madison offers
majors Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
, which students choose at the end of their freshman year. The four majors are
Political Theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...
and Constitutional Democracy, International Relations, Social Relations and Policy, and Comparative Cultures and Politics. All of JMC's majors require two years of foreign language and one "field experience”, either in the form of an internship or study abroad program. James Madison College also has a fairly large amount of academically successful students. Madison boasts numerous major award recipients, including Rhodes, Truman, Fulbright and Marshall Scholars to name a few. About 15% of its students are in the Honors College and though JMC only represents about 4% of MSU graduates the college, they make up around 35% of the MSU's Phi Beta Kappa members.


Residential College in the Arts and Humanities

In 2007, MSU accepted its first class of students for the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities. Founded October 21, 2005, the college provides around 600 undergraduates with an individualized curriculum in the liberal, visual and
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
. Though all the students will graduate with the same
degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...
, MSU will encourage students in the college to get a second degree or specialization. The new college will be MSU's fourth residential college, after James Madison College, the Lyman Briggs School, and the now-defunct Justin Morrill College. Although early proposals named the college after
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
, university officials have not decided on a permanent name , saying that it is still too early to fix a permanent name to the college. RCAH classes started in Fall 2007 in the
Collegiate Gothic Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
Snyder-Phillips Residence Hall. Built in 1947, Snyder-Phillips once housed Justin Morrill College. MSU renovated the dormitory to make room for the new college. Along with a new dining hall and upgraded bathrooms, the expanded Snyder-Phillips includes a 150-seat multipurpose classroom and
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
space, a student art gallery, a Wi-Fi-enabled coffeeshop, music practice rooms, and a language learning center.


Lyman Briggs College

The
Lyman Briggs College The Lyman Briggs College (LBC) is a residential college located at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. Established as a residential college in 1967, Lyman Briggs was a residential school within the College of Natural ...
teaches math and science within social, historical and philosophical contexts. Founded in 1967 as Lyman Briggs College, it was merged into the College of Natural Science in 1981, though the college has now regained its full college status. Many Lyman Briggs students intend to pursue careers in medicine, but the school supports 37 coordinate majors, from human biology to computer science. Lyman Briggs is one of the few colleges that lets undergraduates teach as "Learning Assistants."


MSU College of Law

The
Michigan State University College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the fi ...
was founded in 1891. It was originally named Detroit College of Law, as it was the first law school founded in Detroit. Detroit College of Law became affiliated with Michigan State University in 1995 (changing its name to MSU College of Law), and began offering joint degree programs, including JD-MBA and various LLM programs. Students attending MSU College of Law come from 42 states and 13 countries, with applications tripling since affiliating with MSU in 1995. Full-time and part-time (night) students can participate in 8 concentrations, including the Trial Practice Institute. The law school publishes the ''
Michigan State Law Review The ''Michigan State Law Review'' is a law review published by students at Michigan State University College of Law. It is the flagship journal of the school and it publishes five issues per year. According to the Washington & Lee Law Journal Rank ...
'' and several other journals. The first trial practice institute in the United States, the Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute, started at Michigan State University College of Law with a grant of $4 million from Geoffrey Fieger. The Intellectual Property and Communications Law program is ranked number 1 among law schools in the Big Ten Conference, and number 17 in the United States. In addition, MSU College of Law's Indigenous Law Program offers an Indigenous Law Certificate Program.


Eli Broad College of Business

The
Eli Broad College of Business The Eli Broad College of Business is the business college at Michigan State University. The college has programs in accounting, finance, human resource management, management, marketing, supply chain management, and hospitality business, ...
has programs in
accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...
, information systems,
finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
, hospitality business, human resources management, management, marketing, and
supply chain management In commerce, supply chain management (SCM) is the management of the flow of goods and services including all processes that transform raw materials into final products between businesses and locations. This can include the movement and stor ...
. MSU's supply chain management program is currently ranked number one by the ''U.S. News & World Report''. High school students who select a Broad major on the MSU Freshman application are considered for direct admission. Current undergraduate MSU students can apply to the Broad College through the secondary admission process. Applicants must fulfill specific academic and non-academic requirements as part of the application. The college has 2,066 admitted undergraduate students and 817 graduate students. ''The'' School of Hospitality Business is an industry-specific school within the business college with separate admission statistics. It started with 18 students and now has 402 admitted undergraduate students, 34 graduate students, and 13 full-time
faculty Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument) A faculty is a legal in ...
members. The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, which '' Forbes'' magazine ranks 19th in the U.S., offers 3 MBA programs, as well as
joint degrees A double degree program, sometimes called a dual degree, combined degree, conjoint degree, joint degree or double graduation program, involves a student's working for two university degrees in parallel—either at the same institution or at diffe ...
with the
College of Law A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...
. Other master's programs include accounting, business analytics, finance, food service business management, hospitality business management, marketing research, and supply chain management. The college has been accredited by the
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...
since 1953.


Honors College

The Honors College was established in 1956 to provide more academic opportunities to MSU students, and to emphasize academic challenge and achievement. It is currently housed in
Eustace-Cole Hall Formerly known as Eustace Hall, Eustace-Cole Hall located on Laboratory Row is the only building on Michigan State University's main campus in East Lansing, Michigan that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed in a mix of " Que ...
on the northern portion of MSU's campus. Members of the Honors College at Michigan State University enjoy a great deal of freedom over their academic planning. They are allowed to skip prerequisites, substitute departmental courses for general education requirements, and enroll in Honors courses. Honors College members are also eligible to enroll in graduate courses. Upon graduation from the Honors College, a student receives an Honors College stole to wear at commencement.


Human Medicine

MSU opened the College of Human Medicine was founded in 1964. The main pre-clinical campus is located on Michigan State University's main campus in East Lansing, while half of the class studies at the Secchia Center in Grand Rapids. Clinical practice, undergraduate medical education during the clinical years three and four, graduate medical education, and research takes place across six campuses located in the Michigan cities of Flint,
Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...
, Lansing, Traverse City, Midland, and Marquette.


Osteopathic Medicine

Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine was founded in 1969 as the first osteopathic medical school on a public university campus. The main pre-clinical campus is located in East Lansing, with two additional sites in Macomb and Detroit. Clerkship medical education takes place throughout Michigan in one of the many Statewide Campus System hospitals. Basic and clinical research takes places at all sites.


Resources


Libraries

The Michigan State University Library is the 26th largest academic library system in North America with over 4.7 million volumes and 6.4 million microforms. The university library comprises nine branch locations including the main library. The Africana Collection is one of the largest of its kind in the nation with a collection of over 200,000 items. Other significant collections include The G. Robert Vincent Voice Library, the largest academic voice library in the nation, containing a collection of over 40,000 hours of spoken word recordings and includes the voices of over 100,000 persons from all walks of life, and the Russel B. Nye Popular Culture Collections which includes the extensive
Comic Art ''Comic Art'' was a magazine, founded and edited by Todd Hignite, which surveyed newspaper comic strips, magazine cartoon panels and comic book art, both historical and contemporary. History and profile ''Comic Art'' was established in 2002. Th ...
Collection. This collection currently includes over 100,000
comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
, and 10,000 related books and periodicals.


Press

Michigan State University Press is the publishing arm of Michigan State University. It traces its origins to the late 1940s when the Michigan State Board of Agriculture established a publishing program at Michigan State College (MSC). President
John A. Hannah John Alfred Hannah (October 9, 1902 – February 23, 1991) was president of Michigan State College (later Michigan State University) for 28 years (1941–1969), making him the longest serving of MSU's presidents. He is credited with transformi ...
made a recommendation on publications to a special committee. In response, the committee members recommended to Hannah that Michigan State College Press be created. The president acted on their advice and on July 1, 1947, the publishing house came into being. In addition to its own publishing program, Michigan State University Press distributes books from The African Books Collective, a consortium of more than 110 African small and scholarly publishers headquartered in Oxford, England. They also publish books for four Canadian publishers,Canadian Publishers
. ''Michigan State University Press''. Accessed April 15, 2007.
as wells as books from the National Museum of Science and Industry, London.


Notes


External links


Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Michigan State University Academics Michigan State University University and college academic programs in the United States