MSU By the Numbers
The MSU Alumni Magazine often receives queries about specific numbers—how many acres does the MSU campus have? How many students are currently enrolled? How many alumni reside in Wyoming? And so on. Here we present some numbers that answer the most common questions, as well as other numbers that answer questions few—perhaps none—have asked. In short, we present “MSU by the numbers.”
6
Official names for MSU: Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, 1855; State Agricultural College, 1861; Michigan Agricultural College, 1909; Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science, 1925; Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science, 1955; and Michigan State University, 1964.
2
Number of “Th e Spartan” statues on campus. The original ceramic statue by Leonard Jungwirth stands in the lobby of the football tower, while the bronze replica unveiled in 2005 stands on the original site between Demonstration Hall and I'm Circle.
28
Number of years that John A. Hannah (1941-1969) served as MSU president, an eventful period when enrollment grew from about 6,000 to nearly 40,000. It also marks MSU’s longest winning streak in football, achieved by Biggie Munn from 1950-53.
16
Rhodes Scholars from MSU. (In addition, MSU boasts 16 Churchill Scholars, 30 Goldwater Scholars— including 2011 winner Amy Pochodylo, 16 Truman Scholars, 14 Marshall Scholars, nine Udall scholars, six Hollings Scholars, three Gates-Cambridge Scholars and one Mitchell Scholar.
5,239
Acres in MSU’s East Lansing campus. MSU also owns more than 20,000 acres at 37 locations in 24 counties.
461,500
Number of MSU alumni worldwide (and growing).
20,000
Bicycle parking spaces on campus. MSU boasts 12 miles of bicycle paths.
3
Number Of medical colleges at MSU—the only university in the country with three medical schools (Human Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine and Veterinary Medicine).
300
Members of the Spartan Marching Band (same as the number of Spartans who fought alongside King Leonidas at Th ermopylae in 480 BC). The SMB was founded in 1870 with 10 students, all veterans of the Civil War.
13
Number of MSU graduate programs that are ranked in the top ten nationally.
58
Miles of superconducting wire wrapped around MSU’s two cyclotrons, the K500 and the K1200—just enough to reach Ann Arbor.
$9,000
The annual salary of President Shaw in 1937.
10
U. S. presidents who have visited MSU, beginning with Teddy Roosevelt in 1917. Others were William Howard Taft (1919), Richard M. Nixon (1957), John F. Kennedy (1960), Harry S. Truman (1960), Dwight D. Eisenhower (1961), Gerald Ford (1965, 1974, 1998), William Clinton (five times since 1992), George H. W. Bush (1992), and Barack Obama (2008). MSU was also visited by First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt (1940) and Barbara Bush (1992).
5,000
Different plants in MSU’s Beal Botanical Garden, established in 1873 by botanist William James Beal. It remains the oldest continuously-operated botanical garden of its kind in the U.S.
15
Dollars in tuition for one term at MSU in 1920. (In addition, a one-time $5 fee covered admission to all home athletic contests, lectures, debates, etc.)
28,400
Applications for admission to MSU in 2011, a record. Jim Cotter, director of admissions, anticipates an eventual enrollment of between 7,600 and 7,800.
553
Buildings on campus with recycling collection.
207
Number of gift s to MSU of $1 million or more during The Campaign for MSU (1999-2007), which raised $680.5 million. In the 50 years prior to the campaign, MSU received 118 gift s that were in the seven figures.
89.1
Frequency of MSU’s student radio station, WDBM-FM, honored as college radio station of the year by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Music Inc. for more than a decade
6
Number of Spartans who have won the Pulitzer Prize.
106
Number of Spartans who have won the Pulitzer Prize.
539
The age of the oldest book in the MSU Libraries—Scriptores Rei Rusticae, printed in Venice in 1472.
35.11 MILLION
Television viewers who watched MSU beat Indiana State for the NCAA championship in 1979. The game’s TV rating of 24.1 is the highest for any basketball telecast, college or NBA.
3
National championships in the Universal Cheer Association’s mascot competition won by Sparty, seen here with actor Gerard Butler (King Leonidas in 300) in 2010.
6
NCAA Final Four appearances by Tom Izzo, who in 15 seasons has earned one national championship, six Big Ten titles, four National Coach of the Year awards and 13 straight NCAA appearances (best in the Big Ten). He has achieved all this while maintaining a graduation rate of 84 percent. Twelve of his players have been draft ed by the NBA (six in the first round).
0.1
Seconds left on the Spartan Stadium clock in 2001 when Jeff Smoker threw a touchdown pass to T.J. Duckett to edge the University of Michigan 26-24.
9.4
Teslas—the rating for MSU’s Low Energy Beam and Ion Trap magnet, a device that can help slow down rare isotopes for more precise study. LEBIT is 150,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field.
32
Ice cream flavors offered at the MSU Dairy Store. Favorites include Sesquicentennial Swirl, Blueberry Pie and Buckeye Blitz.
246,956
Total number who saw the Broadway musical, The Phantom of the Opera, at MSU’s Wharton Center for Performing Arts during national tour appearances in 1996, 2003 and 2010. The total box office was $13,734,940.
17
Number of consecutive years that MSU’s College of Education has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for elementary and secondary education by the U.S. News & World Report’s annual edition of America’s Best Graduate Schools.
99
Margin of victory in basketball over Alma in 1902. The 102-3 win remains MSU’s most lopsided hoops win.
530,000
Pounds of material recycled in MSU’s first-ever “Recyclemania” competition in 2011, which ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 18 nationally among large universities.
49
Number of bells in the Beaumont Tower carillon. The largest bell weighs two and one-half tons and the smallest bell about 15 pounds.
13
Gold medals won by Spartan athletes in Olympic competition. Spartans also won 12 silver medals and five bronze medals.
2,619,939
Phone call attempts made to alumni and friends this past fiscal year by the 200 students in MSU Greenline. Last year the Spartan phonathoners raised $4,883.455 from 66,363 donors.
150
Pounds of pasta served daily in MSU’s Brody Square. They come in 13 different shapes and sizes, in flavors ranging from black pepper and broccoli to chocolate.
290,762
Number of bagels made by the MSU Bakery in 2009-10. (Yes, someone kept a count.)
5,700,000
Volumes held in MSU Libraries. In addition, MSU has 592,024 electronic books, 79,026 serial subscriptions, 234,728 maps, 7,920 films and 70,425 audio files.
24,000
Cases seen annually at MSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
130,949
Cubic feet of concrete in MSU’s new Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, along with 733.54 cubic feet of steel framing and 12,600 square feet of wood flooring.
3
Dogs that have performed in Spartan Stadium as Zeke the Wonder Dog.
415
Traffic violations on campus in 1943.
58,500
Plastic bottles recycled to make fabric for the caps and gowns MSU graduates wore in May 2010.
16,114
Students who registered last year for service-learning and civic engagement opportunities—a statistic lauded by U.S. News and World Report and by the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll.
630
Registered Student organizations.
130
Countries represented in MSU’s student population.
1,500
Number of MSU faculty members involved in international research, teaching and service projects.
2,610
MSU students who studied abroad in 2008-09. With more than 260 programs in 60 countries on all continents, MSU is the leading public university in study abroad participation from any single campus in the U.S. for the sixth year in a row.
1982
Year the current MSU Alumni Association was founded. The previous association, established in 1967, achieved “independent” status in 1979 but was disbanded two years later by the MSU Board of Trustees. MSU alumni were first organized as the Society of Alumni of Michigan Agricultural College in 1868.
3
Number of Spartans who have received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
98
Miles of walking paths on campus.
39
MSU’s national rank, according to Kiplinger’s 2011 Best Values in Public Colleges.
80,011
Official attendance of the 1966 “Game of the Century” between MSU and Notre Dame at Spartan Stadium—or 111 percent of capacity.
