Upfront: Spartan Spirit Reigns Around the Globe
Michigan State University, the nation's first land grant university, has a world-renowned record of academic excellence. The integrity of its courses, programs and degrees is born out daily in the lives of its graduates who are engaged throughout the world in business, industry, education, the arts and other chosen fields. As MSU alumni, you and I are indeed fortunate that no matter where we travel, teach, or work throughout the world, our alma mater is a recognized leader in education!
The role MSU plays in international leadership is my focus for this article--the profound necessity grows stronger every day for every individual to understand and participate in a global society. This is President Peter McPherson's latest focus in a series of major thrusts that have helped to perpetuate and enhance the MSU leadership reputation in many areas. In response to spiraling costs of education across the nation, MSU established a tuition guarantee to keep our student costs tied to the rate of inflation, a bold leadership move that challenged other colleges and universities to follow the lead--in President McPherson's words, 'The tuition guarantee has become symbolic of our efforts to build quality by controlling costs.'
Technology is the pathway to the future--recognizing that fact of life, President McPherson again led the University in its pursuit of permanent funds to be devoted to revitalizing and upgrading its learning technologies. (Grassroots alumni support was critical and deeply appreciated in this pursuit of funding.) The joint partnership with the Detroit College of Law to bring that career opportunity to MSU was a move to strengthen the future of MSU and again President McPherson led the way! (The very latest Internet news states that on January 17, Penn State University Board of Trustees voted to merge the Dickinson School of Law into Penn State--does that give a clue to the exceptional leadership move that MSU made two years ago?)
Each of the above decisions were vital to the future of MSU. With the focus on Study Abroad, however, our President has again re-emphasized that important factor of success for our MSU students by guaranteeing that every student who wishes to have an international experience will be able to do so AND to complete this engagement in study abroad programs within the regular amount of tuition. What a statement this makes for our world class University! A University that has long recognized the need to open the doors to international students who especially wanted to earn their graduate degrees at MSU--MSU (according to the latest Open Doors report with 94-95 statistics) is 20th in the nation in research universities for serving international students. According to the same report, MSU stands third in research universities across the nation for the numbers of its students who study abroad. The benefits of both types of international education exchange are unending and lifelong for the individuals, and vitally necessary to keep the United States on the cutting edge of world leadership.
Our graduate education programs have long been recognized as the best in the world, but that leadership role is tenuous with the funding that is being poured into building new universities in other countries. The Featherstone society (an endowment donor society for MSU) recognizes the importance of supporting international graduate students and provides scholarships to assist them in their graduate degree studies.
The role and mission of a university must focus on education and training each individual who enters its doors to assume his/her role in a society that daily becomes more globally interdependent as we face together environmental concerns, international competition in business, industry and education, language barriers that must be erased, cultural differences that must be respected, and technological changes that are changing exponentially.'The National Foreign Trade Council estimates that 125,000 corporate employees of US companies now live and work in another country . . . the number of US expatriates has nearly doubled over the past two years.' This vast number does not include those employed in business, industry or education who are on short term business trips!
On a personal basis, I have spent nearly twenty years helping to prepare students, faculty, business and industry leaders for international experiences. As I worked with community college presidents and Russian educators last year in preparation for faculty engagements in Russia during 1997, it was rewarding to meet with officials from Moscow State University and universities in St. Petersburg and have them recognize the Community college of Allegheny county, and especially exciting to have them tell me that they have been working with Michigan State University for a number of years! Our alumni Network is working right along with the University!
My hat and all of our alumni (Spartan) hats are off the President McPherson, a great University faculty and staff! And, let's also take some time to recognize our MSU Alumni Executive director Keith Williams and his outstanding staff who are the foundation of a worldwide alumni network that continues to connect every alumni with the opportunity to participate in travel/study programs in many different countries. Take some time to review your privileges of alumni membership and renew your enthusiasm for Michigan State University. Yes, my friends and colleagues, the Spartan Spirit Reigns throughout the entire world and you and I have the privilege and responsibility of helping to maintain and support our World Class University.
Dr. Jacqueline D. Taylor, M.A. '82, Ph.D. '86, chairperson of MSU's National Alumni Board, is vice president for institutional development for the Community College of Allegheny County System in Pittsburgh, which serves about 90,000 students each year. She is also the executive dean (CEO) of the Boyce campus, named after the founder of the Boys Scouts of America.
