July 19, 2013
Beaumont Tower, Sparty, Olds Hall, the Broad Art Museum, beautiful gardens and the Red Cedar River—it’s great to be home. Even the construction detours and oppressive summer heat that welcomed me back feel like old friends after my vacation. Vacation was fantastic, but it’s always nice to come back to the warm, (or in this case sweltering), embrace of campus.
As always when coming back home, I look around to see what happened or changed during the time I was gone.
On the surface, it’s easy to see different trees blooming or newly constructed sidewalks or even ducklings that are bigger than when I left. But underneath all of that, there are changes and happenings every single day at Michigan State.
It’s no secret—MSU is a big place. With a 5,200-acre campus, 532 buildings, more than 48,000 students, about 5,000 faculty and academic staff and almost 6,400 support staff employees, there’s no denying that. And with a big place comes big things—big dreams, big discoveries, big actions, big opportunities and big fun.
It may be the middle of summer and the majority of students have gone home, but those big things are still happening.
Researchers are pursuing solutions to world problems, faculty are teaching summer courses and are planning for the fall, campus planners are improving physical spaces and Spartans are still dreaming, creating and leaving their marks on this world.
Artists like Thomas Berding, associate professor of studio art and chairman of the Department of Art and Art History, are creating stunning visual pieces. Read his Faculty Voice to learn about how he approaches painting.
Students like journalism senior, Alex Barhorst, who got to be an intern for the day with athletic director Mark Hollis, are experiencing cool opportunities that enrich their college years. Read about Alex’s day in his Student View.
In this big place I call home, there are countless big things happening in science, medicine, art, athletics, humanities and more. I love the wide expanse of this place that touches so many parts of life.
Just look at the news that came out of campus this week—making advances in skin cancer battle, tracking down invasive plants, targeting mental illness, studying global food security, mapping attitudes toward tigers, investing in tech spinouts, recognizing future teachers and kicking off an art series—that’s a pretty impressive list of things happening during the dog days of summer.
And those are just things I know about.
I love being a part of a place that is always changing, always moving, always working. I love knowing that even being gone a few short weeks means that I missed countless exciting things that happened on campus. In short, I love this big place and the big impact Spartans make in this world. It really is great to be home.
Spartans Will.
Lisa Mulcrone
Editor, MSUToday