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Michigan State University

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   CAPTION: Michigan State University

   Michigan State University Seal
     __________________________________________________________________

   Motto Advancing Knowledge. Transforming Lives.
   Established February 12, 1855
   Type Public Land Grant University, Sea Grant
   Endowment $1.325 billion
   President Dr. Lou Anna Simon
   Faculty 2,311
   Students 45,166
   Undergraduates 35,678
   Postgraduates 9,488
   Location East Lansing, Michigan, USA
   Campus Suburban
   5,200 acre (21 km²) campus
   2,000 acres (8 km²) in existing or planned development
   Sports Spartans
   Colors Green and White


   Mascot Sparty
   Website msu.edu

                                    Logo

   Michigan State University (MSU) is a public university in East Lansing,
   Michigan. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution
   and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United
   States under the 1862 Morrill Act. It is the eighth-largest university
   in the United States, with 45,166 students and one of the top research
   universities in the world supporting no less than three medical
   schools. Listed as a Public Ivy, Michigan State is a member of the
   Association of American Universities.

   Well known for its academic programs in education and agriculture, MSU
   pioneered the studies of packaging and music therapy. MSU is home to
   the second-oldest hospitality school in the United States, and the
   study abroad program is the largest of any single-campus university in
   the country, offering more than 200 programs in more than 60 countries
   on all continents including Antarctica.

   Following the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became
   coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. After
   World War II, the number of students tripled as the institution became
   a major university. As of 2005, MSU is the United States' sixth-largest
   university by enrollment. As a research university, MSU is one of 60
   members of the Association of American Universities.

   MSU's Division I sports teams are called the Spartans. They compete in
   the Big Ten Conference in all sports except ice hockey, in which the
   team is part of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. MSU's
   football team won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988. Its men's
   basketball team won the NCAA National Championship in 1979 and 2000.

History

   Beaumont Tower marks the site of old College Hall.
   Enlarge
   Beaumont Tower marks the site of old College Hall.

Agriculture school

   The Michigan Constitution of 1850 called for the creation of an
   "agricultural school", though it was not until February 12, 1855 that
   Michigan Governor Kinsley S. Bingham signed a bill establishing the
   United States' first agriculture college, the Agricultural College of
   the State of Michigan. Classes began in May 1857 with three buildings,
   five faculty members, and 63 male students. The first president, Joseph
   R. Williams, designed a curriculum that required more scientific study
   than practically any undergraduate institution of the era. It balanced
   science, liberal arts, and practical training. The curriculum excluded
   Latin and Greek studies, since most applicants did not study any
   classical languages in their rural high schools. However, it did
   require three hours of daily manual labor, which kept costs down for
   both the students and the College. Despite Williams' innovations and
   his defense of education for the masses, the State Board of Education
   saw Williams' curriculum as elitist. They forced him to resign in 1859
   and reduced the curriculum to a two-year vocational program.
   The Red Cedar River is at the heart of campus.
   Enlarge
   The Red Cedar River is at the heart of campus.

Land Grant pioneer

   In 1860, Joseph Williams became acting lieutenant governor and helped
   pass the Reorganization Act of 1861. This gave the College a four-year
   curriculum and the power to grant master's degrees. Under the act, a
   newly-created body, known as the State Board of Agriculture, took over
   from the State Board of Education in running the institution. The
   College changed its name to State Agricultural College, and its first
   class graduated in the same year. However, there was no time for an
   elaborate graduation ceremony: the Civil War had just begun, and the
   first alumni were drafted into the war effort. The following year,
   Abraham Lincoln signed the First Morrill Act of 1862 to support similar
   colleges, making the Michigan school a national model. Williams never
   witnessed the cause to which he had dedicated so much of his life,
   having taken ill and died the previous year.
   The Alice B Cowles House is the official home of the university
   president and is the oldest existing building on campus.
   Enlarge
   The Alice B Cowles House is the official home of the university
   president and is the oldest existing building on campus.

Co-ed college

   The college first admitted women in 1870, although at that time there
   were no female dormitories. The few women who enrolled either boarded
   with faculty families or made the arduous stagecoach trek from Lansing.
   Nonetheless, even from the early days female students took the same
   rigorous scientific agriculture courses as male students. In 1896, the
   faculty created a "Women Course" that melded a home economics
   curriculum with liberal arts and sciences. That same year, the College
   turned the old Abbot Hall male dorm into a women's dormitory and more
   firmly established itself as co-ed. However, it was not until 1899 that
   the State Agricultural College admitted its first African American
   student, William O. Thompson. He went on to teach at what is now
   Tuskegee University under the wing of Booker T. Washington, whom
   President Jonathan L. Snyder invited to be the Class of 1900
   commencement speaker. A few years later, Myrtle Craig became the first
   female African American student to enroll at the College. Along with
   the Class of 1907, she received her degree from U.S. President Theodore
   Roosevelt, commencement speaker for the Semi-Centennial celebration.
   The City of East Lansing was incorporated in that same year, and two
   years later the college officially changed its name to Michigan
   Agricultural College (M.A.C.).

Big Ten university

   During the early 20th century, M.A.C. expanded its curriculum well
   beyond agriculture. By 1925, it had expanded enough that it changed its
   name to Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
   (M.S.C.). In 1941, the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture,
   John A. Hannah, became president of the College. He began the largest
   expansion in the institution's history, with the help of the 1945 G.I.
   Bill, which helped World War II veterans to receive an education. One
   of Hannah's strategies was to build a new dormitory building, enroll
   enough students to fill it, and use the income to start construction on
   a new dormitory. Under his plan, enrollment increased from 15,000 in
   1950 to 38,000 in 1965. Hannah also got the chance to improve the
   athletic reputation of M.S.C. when the University of Chicago resigned
   from the Big Ten Conference in 1946. Hannah lobbied hard to take its
   place, gaining admission in 1950. Five years later, in its Centennial
   year of 1955, the State of Michigan renamed the College as Michigan
   State University of Agriculture and Applied Science. Nine years after
   that, the University governing body changed its name from the State
   Board of Agriculture to the MSU Board of Trustees. The State of
   Michigan allowed the University to drop the words "Agriculture and
   Applied Science" from its name. Since 1964, the institution has gone by
   the name of Michigan State University.
   The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory features one of the
   most powerful instruments of its type in the world.
   Enlarge
   The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory features one of the
   most powerful instruments of its type in the world.

Global leader by 2012

   Since the end of the Hannah era, Michigan State has shifted its focus
   from increasing the size of its student body to advancing its national
   and global reputation. In recent years, " town and gown" relations have
   soured as students and permanent residents looked at each other with
   increasing hostility. Tensions worsened when East Lansing erupted in
   riots in 1997, and 1998,. The most recent disturbance occurred on April
   2, 2005, after MSU's defeat to North Carolina in the 2005 men's
   basketball Final Four. Officially deemed a "civil disturbance" rather
   than a riot, the incident sparked a debate over police brutality in
   East Lansing, which has yet to be resolved. Despite the damage to MSU's
   image, the University looks to improve its academic reputation in the
   21st century. In September 2005, current president Lou Anna Simon
   called for MSU, one of the public ivy institutions, to become the
   global model leader for Land Grant institutions by the year 2012. Her
   plans include creating a new residential college and increasing
   National Institutes of Health donations past the $100 million mark.
   While there are over 100 Land Grant universities in the United States,
   she has stated that she would like Michigan State University to be the
   leader.

Campus

   MSU's main campus lies north of the CN Railroad.
   Enlarge
   MSU's main campus lies north of the CN Railroad.

   MSU's sprawling campus is located in East Lansing on the banks of the
   Red Cedar River. The campus started in 1857 with three buildings: a
   multipurpose building called College Hall, a dormitory later called "
   Saints' Rest", and a barn. Today, MSU's contiguous campus consists of
   5,200  acres (2,104  ha), 2,000 acres (809.4 ha) of which are
   developed. There are currently 676 buildings: 203 for academics, 154
   for agriculture, 245 for housing and food service, as well as 74 other
   buildings. Overall, the University has 21,931,085 square feet
   (2,037,464.5  m²) of total indoor space. Connecting it all is 27 miles
   (43 km) of roads and 100 miles (161 km) of sidewalks. MSU also owns 44
   non-campus properties, totaling 22,000 acres (8,903 ha) in 28 different
   counties.
   Morrill Hall is amongst the oldest structures still standing on campus.
   Enlarge
   Morrill Hall is amongst the oldest structures still standing on campus.

North campus

   The oldest part of campus lies on the north bank of the Red Cedar. It
   includes Collegiate Gothic architecture, plentiful trees, and curving
   roads with few straight lines. It was in this area that the College
   built its first three buildings, of which none survive. Other historic
   buildings north of the river include Cowles House, the president's
   official residence, and Beaumont Tower, a carillon clock tower marking
   the site of College Hall, the original classroom building. To the east
   lies Eustace-Cole Hall and Marshall-Adams Hall, America's first
   freestanding laboratories for horticulture and bacteriology,
   respectively. Other landmarks include the bronze statue of former
   president John A. Hannah, the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden, and the
   painted boulder known as " The Rock", which is a popular spot for
   theatre, tailgating, and candlelight vigils. On the northwest corner of
   campus lies the University's hotel, the Kellogg Hotel and Conference
   Centre.
   The Wharton Center for Performing Arts hosts many productions
   throughout the year and was host to the final US Presidential Debate
   before the 1992 election.
   Enlarge
   The Wharton Centre for Performing Arts hosts many productions
   throughout the year and was host to the final US Presidential Debate
   before the 1992 election.

South campus

   The campus south of the river consists mostly of post-World War II
   International Style buildings with sparse foliage, relatively straight
   roadways, and numerous parking lots. The "2020 Vision" Master Plan
   proposes replacing these parking lots with parking ramps and green
   space, but these plans will take many years to reach fruition. As part
   of the master plan, the University erected a new bronze statue of " The
   Spartan" in 2005. This replica replaced the original modernist terra
   cotta statue, which can still be seen on the west concourse of the
   Spartan Stadium. Notable academic and research buildings on the South
   Campus include the Cyclotron and the College of Law. This part of
   campus is home to the MSU Horticulture Gardens and the adjoining 4-H
   Children's Garden. South of the gardens lie the Canadian National and
   CSX railroads, which divide the main campus from thousands of acres of
   university-owned farmland.

Academics

   The MSU Library is located on the oldest part of campus between
   Beaumont Tower and the river.
   Enlarge
   The MSU Library is located on the oldest part of campus between
   Beaumont Tower and the river.

   MSU has the sixth largest student body in the U.S. There are 45,166
   total students, with 35,678 undergraduates and 9,488 graduate and
   professional students. The student body is 54% female and 46% male.
   While 89% of students come from all 83 counties in the State of
   Michigan, also represented are all 50 states in the U.S. and about 125
   other countries. MSU has about 4,500 faculty and 6,000 staff members,
   and a student/faculty ratio of 19:1. Like other large American
   universities, MSU has a large number of teaching assistants teaching
   upper-level courses in certain disciplines.
   The Computer Center once housed the early computer MISTIC
   Enlarge
   The Computer Centre once housed the early computer MISTIC

Rankings

   Michigan State ranks eightieth in the world, according to a Shanghai
   Jiao Tong University study, with U.S. News & World Report's ranking MSU
   70th in the U.S. The university has over 200 academic programs, several
   of them highly-ranked. U.S. News has ranked MSU's graduate-level
   elementary and secondary education programs number one for the last
   eleven years. MSU's Industrial and Organizational Psychology Ph.D.
   program is another program ranked number one for the better part of the
   last decade. In U.S. News ' 2006 ranking of nuclear physics programs,
   MSU ranked second behind only MIT. Indeed, MSU’s Physics & Astronomy
   department ranks highly based on the number and impact of publications
   its faculty publishes. In addition to this, the 2007 U.S. News & World
   Report ranks Michigan State's Supply Chain Management program in the
   Eli Broad College of Business number one in the nation, beating out MIT
   (ranked second). 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, packaging, political science, and
   communications. MSU's study abroad program is the largest of any
   single-campus university in the United States with 2,461 students
   studying abroad in 2004–05 in over 60 countries on all continents,
   including Antarctica.
   The Veterinary Research Farm.
   Enlarge
   The Veterinary Research Farm.

Research

   The university spent $289,787,000 on research in 2002, capping a long
   history of productive research. In 1877, botany professor William J.
   Beal performed the first documented genetic crosses to produce hybrid
   corn, which led to increased yields. MSU dairy professor G. Malcolm
   Trout invented the process for the homogenization of milk in the 1930s.
   In the 1960s, MSU scientists developed cisplatin, a leading cancer
   fighting drug. Today Michigan State continues its research with
   facilities such as the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored MSU-DOE
   Plant Research Laboratory and a particle accelerator called the
   National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. In 2004, scientists at
   the Cyclotron produced and observed a new isotope of the element
   germanium, called Ge-60. In that same year, 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 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 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 Collection. This collection includes over 100,000
   comic books, and 10,000 related books and periodicals.

Endowment

   MSU's (private, non-Morrill Act) endowment 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. The rapid increase in
   the size of the endowment will help to improve outdated facilities,
   such as the Music Building, which the music department hopes to soon
   replace with money from its alumni fundraising program.

Colleges

Residential colleges

   The South Campus skyline.
   Enlarge
   The South Campus skyline.

   MSU has several residential colleges, based on the Oxbridge
   "living-learning" model. By putting classes in student domitories,
   these colleges improve student access to faculty and facilities. MSU's
   first residential college, Justin Morrill College started in 1965 with
   an interdisciplinary curriculum. MSU closed Morrill College in 1979,
   but today the university has two remaining residential colleges, with a
   third scheduled to start in 2007. Though these colleges started as an
   experiments, they are now well-respected programs.

   Started in 1967, James Madison College tries to merge the best
   attributes of a small public affairs college and a major university.
   Classes in the college are small, with an average of 25 students, and
   most instructors are tenure track faculty. Each of Madison's three
   majors requires two years of foreign language and one year of "field
   experience” in an internship or study abroad program.Although Madison
   students make up about 4% of MSU graduates, they represent around 35%
   of the MSU’s Phi Beta Kappa members.
   Snyder-Phillips Hall was built in 1947. The building is currently being
   expanded to make room for a new residential college.
   Enlarge
   Snyder-Phillips Hall was built in 1947. The building is currently being
   expanded to make room for a new residential college.

   The Lyman Briggs School of Science 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 school is now trying to regain full College status.
   Many Lyman Briggs students intend to pursue careers in medicine, but
   the school supports over 30 coordinate majors, from human biology to
   computer sciences. Lyman Briggs is one of the few colleges that lets
   undergraduates teach as "Learning Assistants."

   In 2007, MSU will accept its first class of students for the
   Residential College in Arts & Humanities. Founded October 21, 2005, the
   college will provide around 600 undergraduates with an individualized
   curriculum in the liberal, visual and performing arts. Though all the
   students will graduate with the same degree, MSU will encourage
   students in the college to get a second degree or specialization. The
   university will house the new college in Snyder-Phillips Hall, which it
   is currently renovating to make room for the new college.

Professional schools

   The MSU Law School Building.
   Enlarge
   The MSU Law School Building.

   The Michigan State University College of Law is a private law school,
   even though MSU is a public institution. Founded in Detroit in 1891 as
   the Detroit College of Law, MSU bought the school in 1995, and moved it
   to East Lansing. Students attending MSU College of Law come from 42
   states and 13 countries. The law school publishes the Michigan State
   Law Review and several journals. Michigan State University College of
   Law is the home of the Geoffrey Fieger Trial Practice Institute, the
   first trial practice institute in the United States. The Intellectual
   Property and Communications Law program is ranked seventeenth
   nationally.

   The Eli Broad College of Business has programs in accounting,
   information systems, finance, management, marketing and supply chain
   management, and hospitality business. The school has 4,775
   undergraduate students and 776 graduate students. The Eli Broad
   Graduate School of Management, which Business Week magazine ranks 11th
   among public institutions, offers 3 MBA programs, as well as joint
   degrees with the College of Law.

Athletics

   Spartan Stadium hosts varsity football games and other events.
   Enlarge
   Spartan Stadium hosts varsity football games and other events.

   Michigan State's NCAA Division I-A program offers 14 varsity sports for
   men and 15 for women. Since their teams are called the Spartans, MSU's
   mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty. The university participates
   in the Big Ten Conference in all varsity sports except ice hockey,
   which competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The
   current athletic director is Ron Mason, who served as head hockey coach
   from 1979 to 2002, retiring with a record total of 924 wins, and a
   608-261-64 record at MSU. MSU's Spartan Marching Band plays the fight
   song at every university event, and both students and alumni sing
   along. Michigan State is among only sixteen Division 1A programs to win
   multiple national titles in football, and the only school to win
   multiple national titles in both football and basketball. The Spartans
   have participated in two events, in basketball and ice hockey, which
   have set world records for spectator attendances for both sports.

Football

   Football has a long tradition at Michigan State. Starting as a club
   sport in 1884, football gained varsity status in 1896. In the 1950s,
   MSU led the nation in desegregation, allowing black athletes in all
   sports. It won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988. In 1967 the
   Spartans accounted for four of the top eight picks in the NFL draft,
   the only time a college football program has accomplished such feat.

   Today, the football team competes in Spartan Stadium, a renovated
   75,025 person football stadium in the centre of campus. The current
   coach is Mark Dantonio, who was hired on November 27, 2006. Dantonio
   had an 18-17 record in his three year tenure at the University of
   Cincinnati, including a 1-0 Bowl Game record. MSU's traditional
   archrival is the University of Michigan, against whom they compete for
   the Paul Bunyan Trophy. MSU is traditionally the underdog, with a
   28-66-5 record in the annual game. Michigan State is one of three Big
   Ten teams to have an annual non-conference football game against Notre
   Dame. MSU's record against the Fighting Irish is 25-44-1.. Michigan
   State has won three (recognized) national championships and eight
   conference championships.
   The Jack Breslin Student Events Center is home to the men and women's
   basketball teams.
   Enlarge
   The Jack Breslin Student Events Centre is home to the men and women's
   basketball teams.

Men's basketball

   MSU's men's basketball team has won the National Championship twice: in
   1979 and again in 2000. In 1979, Earvin "Magic" Johnson, along with
   Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent, and Mike Brkovich, led the MSU team to a
   75-64 win against the Larry Bird-led Indiana State Sycamores. In 2000,
   three players from Flint, Michigan, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, and
   Mateen Cleaves led the team to its second national title. Dubbed the
   "Flintstones", they were the key to the Spartans' win against the
   University of Florida. On December 13, 2003, Michigan State and
   Kentucky played in the Basketbowl, in which a record crowd of 78,129
   watched the game in Detroit’s Ford Field. Kentucky won 79-74. The team
   currently plays at the Breslin Student Events Centre under head coach
   Tom Izzo, who has a 233-97 record. Izzo's coaching has helped the team
   make four of the last eight NCAA Final Fours, winning the title in
   2000. In recent years, MSU's successes on the basketball court have
   been associated with riots that have received heavy press coverage and
   strained relations between the students and the permanent residents of
   East Lansing.
   Munn Ice Arena was named for former football coach Clarence L. "Biggie"
   Munn.
   Enlarge
   Munn Ice Arena was named for former football coach Clarence L. "Biggie"
   Munn.

Men's Ice Hockey

   The MSU men's ice hockey team started in 1924, though it has only been
   a varsity sport since 1950. The team has since won national titles in
   1966 and 1986. They play at MSU's Munn Ice Arena. The current head
   coach is Rick Comley, who has a 34-19-3 record at MSU. Since the Big
   Ten Conference does not include Division I men's ice hockey, Michigan
   State competes in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Along with
   the University of Michigan and the Ohio State University, it is one of
   three Big Ten schools in the CCHA. As with other sports, the hockey
   rivalry between MSU and U-M is a fierce one, and on October 6, 2001 MSU
   faced UM in the Cold War, during which a world record crowd of 74,544
   packed Spartan Stadium to watch the game end in a 3-3 tie.

Student life

   Hubbard Hall is a twelve-story residence hall on the eastern edge of
   campus. It is MSU's second tallest building, surpassed by Spartan
   Stadium
   Enlarge
   Hubbard Hall is a twelve-story residence hall on the eastern edge of
   campus. It is MSU's second tallest building, surpassed by Spartan
   Stadium

   East Lansing is very much a college town, with 58.6% of the population
   between the ages of 18 and 24. President John A. Hannah's push to
   expand in the 1950s and 1960s resulted in the largest residence hall
   system in the United States. 16,000 students live in MSU's 23
   undergraduate halls, one graduate hall, and three apartment villages.
   Each residence hall has its own hall government, with representatives
   in the Residence Halls Association (RHA). Yet despite the size and
   extent of on-campus housing, 58% of students live off-campus, mostly in
   the " student ghettos" of East Lansing. One of these student-dominated
   neighborhoods is "Cedar Village". The city since has declared Cedar
   Village " blighted", and proposed to redevelop the 35  acre (14 ha)
   site as a complex of upscale condominiums and retail stores called East
   Village. Several fraternities in the affected area have mounted a
   campaign against the redevelopment plan.
   The MSU Union is home to many events on campus.
   Enlarge
   The MSU Union is home to many events on campus.

Activism

   Activists have played an important role in MSU history. During the
   height of the Vietnam War, student protests helped create co-ed
   residence halls, blocked the routing of Interstate 496 through campus,
   and led to the resignation of MSU President John A. Hannah. In the
   1980s, Michigan State students convinced the University to divest the
   stocks of companies doing business in apartheid South Africa from its
   endowment portfolio, such as Coca-Cola. Today, MSU has many student
   groups focused on political change. The student government is the
   Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU). It is known
   for its unusual nonpartisan bicameral structure, which includes the
   parallel Student Assembly and Academic Assembly. Graduate campus groups
   include the Graduate Employees Union (GEU) and the Council of Graduate
   Students (COGS). Michigan State also has a variety of partisan groups
   ranging from liberal to conservative, including the College
   Republicans, the College Democrats and several third party
   organizations. Other partisan activist groups include Young Americans
   for Freedom on the right and Students for Economic Justice and
   Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan ( MEChA) on the left. Given
   MSU's proximity to the Michigan state capital of Lansing, many
   politically-inclined Spartans get internships for the state
   representatives.

Greek Life

   Michigan State University's greek system consists of around fifty Greek
   lettered student societies. These chapters are in turn under the
   jurisdiction of one of MSU's four Greek governing councils. Of these
   four, the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Women's Panhellenic
   Council are each entirely responsible for their own budgets, giving
   them the freedom to hold large fundraising and recruitment events.
   MSU's fraternities and sororities hold many philanthropy events and
   community fundraisers. Many chapters even hold two or three events per
   year. For example, in March 2006, the Greek system held Greek Week to
   raise over $170,000 for the American Cancer Society, Ele's Place, the
   Ronald McDonald House, and the Special Olympics.

People

   The current president of the University is Lou Anna Simon, who took
   over on January 1, 2005, after being appointed by MSU's governing
   board, the Board of Trustees. The Board receives its mandate from the
   Michigan Constitution since MSU is a state-owned school. The
   constitution allows for eight trustees, elected by statewide referendum
   every two years. Trustees have eight-year terms, with two of the eight
   elected every other year. As of 2005, the Board is made up of five
   Republicans and three Democrats, and has a 4:4 gender balance.
   Eustace-Cole Hall was the United States' first freestanding
   horticulture laboratory. It is the only MSU building on the National
   Register of Historic Places.
   Enlarge
   Eustace-Cole Hall was the United States' first freestanding
   horticulture laboratory. It is the only MSU building on the National
   Register of Historic Places.

19th century

   Important College leaders in the 1800s include John C. Holmes, who kept
   the Agriculture School from being a part of the University of Michigan
   and is widely credited with being the prime mover for the school's
   founding, Joseph R. Williams, the first president, and T.C. Abbot, the
   third president who stabilized the College after the Civil War. Also of
   importance was botany professor William J. Beal, an early plant (hybrid
   corn) geneticist who corresponded with Charles Darwin and championed
   the laboratory teaching method. Another distinguished faculty member of
   the era was the alumnus/professor Liberty Hyde Bailey. Bailey was the
   first to raise the study of horticulture to a science, paralleling
   botany, which earned him the title of "Father of American
   Horticulture". Other famous 19th century graduates include Charles E.
   St. John, a prominent early astrophysicist and an associate of Albert
   Einstein, Ray Stannard Baker, a famed " muckraker" journalist and
   Pulitzer Prize winning biographer of Woodrow Wilson, and William
   Chandler Bagley, a pioneering education reformer. Prominent 19th
   century Japanese alumni include Minakata Kumagusu (1888), a renowned
   environmental scientist, and Michitaro Tsuda (B.S. 1884), who went on
   to become a member of the Emperor’s Privy Council.
   The Human Ecology Building.
   Enlarge
   The Human Ecology Building.

20th / 21st centuries

   Today, there are about 389,000 living MSU alumni worldwide. Famous MSU
   alumni include former Michigan governors James Blanchard and John
   Engler, Michigan U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, billionaire Eli Broad,
   and Teamsters president James P. Hoffa. Alumni in Hollywood include
   actors James Caan, Anthony Heald, Robert Urich, and Spider-Man director
   Sam Raimi. Also, two of the Little Rock Nine attended Michigan State,
   including Ernest Green, the first black student to graduate from Little
   Rock Central High School; and Carlotta Walls Lanier.

   Spartans formerly or currently in the NBA include Earvin "Magic"
   Johnson, Steve Smith, Scott Skiles, Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves,
   Alan Anderson, Zach Randolph, Anthony 'Pig' Miller, Jumping Johnny
   Green, Paul Davis, Shannon Brown, Maurice Ager, Shawn Respert, Morris
   Peterson, and Charlie Bell. On the American Football League's All-Time
   Team are tight-end Fred Arbanas and safety George Saimes. In the
   National Football League, MSU alumni include Morten Andersen, Plaxico
   Burress, Andre Rison, Derrick Mason, Muhsin Muhammad, T.J. Duckett,
   Flozell Adams, Julian Peterson, Charles Rogers, Earl Morrall, Don
   Coleman, Sherman Lewis, Wayne Fontes and Bubba Smith. Former Michigan
   State players in the National Hockey League include Rod Brind'Amour,
   Anson Carter, Adam Hall, John-Michael Liles, brothers Kelly Miller,
   Kevin Miller and Kip Miller, as well as their cousin Ryan Miller.Former
   Michigan State players who formerly played or currently playing in
   Major League Baseball include Kirk Gibson, Steve Garvey, Robin Roberts,
   and Mark Mulder.
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