Michigan State University’s inaugural Spartan Bus Tour ‘brings MSU to Michigan’

One bus. Three days. 15 stops. 13 Michigan cities. 734 miles. Michigan State University’s inaugural Spartan Bus Tour introduced more than 60 administrators and faculty members to many of the places its students, staff and alumni call home.

The tour, launched on the heels of the investiture of President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., represents one of his first priorities as a new Michigander and Spartan.

“We visited some of the diverse communities that are integral to the fabric of our state and to MSU,” he said. “These places are where MSU’s impact is felt through our research, education, outreach and extension — and my hope is that we take what we’ve learned over the last course of the tour and consider how we can bring each of our unique backgrounds and skill sets to create new partnerships with the communities we visit and with each other. I hope that we can both appreciate what is and imagine what could be.”

The bus, wrapped in green and white, departed from East Lansing at 8:15 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 21, and returned on the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 23. During the 15-stop tour, participants met with partners and community members across the state while also creating new connections with colleagues along the way.

“This has truly been a life-changing experience for me,” said Raven Jones, an associate professor in MSU’s College of Education. “Seeing and hugging so many Spartans across our state was awe-inspiring. We are everywhere! At every site, the welcoming Spartan spirit was apparent and contagious. I am also renewed by the energy and brilliance of my esteemed colleagues. We held space for one another, celebrated each other as we engaged in storytelling practices and learned about the intersectionality of our research and work.”

Jump to: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Back on the banks of the Red Cedar

Day 1: Culture and community

The first stop on the bus tour was a historic one. At the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture and Lifeways in Mt. Pleasant, Guskiewicz became the first MSU president to meet with a tribal chief of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe on Anishinabe land to offer a living land acknowledgement. He read the following aloud to members of the tribe:

“We collectively acknowledge that Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional and contemporary Lands of the Anishinabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi peoples. In particular, the university resides on land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw. We recognize, support and advocate for the sovereignty of Michigan’s 12 federally recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their homelands. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and will work to hold Michigan State University more accountable to the needs of American Indian and Indigenous peoples.”

Participants heard from staff, tribe members and MSU faculty who are currently partnering with the center; toured exhibits; experienced a traditional music performance by the Onion Creek Singers; took part in a flag ceremony and blessing; and witnessed Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe Chief Tim Davis and Guskiewicz participate in a blanketing ceremony, a symbol of respect, support and warmth from the Anishinabe people.

“When you see an organization as large as MSU take the time to make a stop here and learn about the Indigenous populations, it means so much,” said Erik Rodriguez, director of public relations at the Ziibiwing Center. “Continuing to find ways to expand our partnership and strengthen the bond between a nation and a university is very important for not only our community, but for all people throughout mid-Michigan.”

Paola Smith, assistant director of the MSU Community Music School-Detroit, has already started conversations with the Onion Creek Singers to see how she can incorporate their music into her curriculum.

“I was so moved by the presentation and the music at the Ziibiwing Center,” said Smith. “It is important to me that MSU is engaging with Indigenous people in Michigan, and I look forward to figuring out how to do more of that in my work in Detroit.”

The bus then made its way to M&R Pickling, an Amish family-owned canning company in Le Roy, which won the , before heading to Camp Grayling — the largest U.S. National Guard training facility in the United States.

Matt Kleitch, an alum of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, is Camp Grayling’s environmental manager. He explained how he partners with MSU to “keep common species common.”

“I think it is a surprise to most people that conservation is such a focus for us,” said Kleitch, who discussed working with many groups who come to the site to conduct research. “We operate on more than 147,000 acres and recognize that there are a lot of valuable natural resources on this land, as well as endangered species. We’re tenants and users, but also stewards of the land, and we recognize that we have a responsibility to take that very seriously.”

Col. Lucas Lanczy, Camp Grayling commander, and Capt. Daniel Childs, assistant professor in the MSU Department of Military Science and lieutenant with MSU’s Department of Police and Public Safety, also addressed the group. In addition to giving a tour of the grounds, they presented about the site’s 111-year history, the annual $20 million in local economic impact that camp activities bring in, and connection to the university’s Department of Military Science, which is notable given the fact that MSU’s ROTC program ranks 11th out of 270 programs nationally.  

“I really enjoyed the visit to Camp Grayling,” said Sarah Machniak, coordinator of Student Enrichment and Community Outreach in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “The National Guard, and the military in general, is not something I am familiar with, so I appreciated the conversation about how we can best support these students who are both going to school and serving.”

The final stop of the day brought the bus to MSU’s Camp Wa Wa Sum, a 144-year-old classic log cabin conference and research center located on the AuSable River, also in Grayling. Primarily used by groups like Trout Unlimited and the Michigan departments of Fisheries and Wildlife and Forestry, the camp also regularly welcomes research teams from MSU and several other Big Ten universities.

“This small slice of paradise in Northern Michigan is an absolute gem,” said Kevin Gardiner, a fifth-generation caretaker of the camp, as he led participants on a tour of the property. “It is, has always been and will always be my absolute honor to welcome people to this special place on behalf of MSU and our region.”

Day 2: Agriculture, natural resources and the outdoors

After a restful night at the Delamar Hotel in Traverse City, the bus took a scenic fall drive to the Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center, one of the 15 MSU research stations located throughout the state working to meet the agriculture challenges faced by farmers and growers in those areas.

Nikki Rothwell, who has been an MSU Extension specialist and coordinator at the center for more than 20 years, greeted the group at the 137-acre site.

“We’re here in the heart of cherry country, and our mission has always been dedicated to working with and researching issues that growers are having with cherries,” she said. “We also work with wine grape and apple growers. For example, before the bus pulled up today, I took three calls from growers wondering about the dry weather we’re having this fall. They’re asking if they should be watering earlier this year or more often.”

Rothwell talked to participants about the recent “sweet cherry catastrophe” that has been making headlines this summer and explained how disease has led to a USDA disaster declaration and a 75% decrease in the cherry crop this year.

“I want our visitors to leave with an understanding of the integration of the growers in this region and our research station,” said Rothwell. “We aim to have our finger on the pulse of their challenges. We’re always asking ourselves, ‘Are we doing all we can to help them keep farming in our beautiful little corner of the world?’”

Following the research station visit, the bus continued to Sleeping Bear Dunes in Glen Arbor, one of Michigan’s top tourist destinations, before making its way to Arcadia Bluffs Golf Course. Arcadia’s president, William Shriver, welcomed Spartans with an overview of the club’s dedication to hospitality and a history of its business, which is celebrating 25 years in 2024. Shriver discussed the importance of the golf industry as a major economic driver in Michigan before introducing Jim Bluck, director of agronomy at Arcadia Bluffs and an alum of MSU’s crop and soil sciences program.

Bluck touted MSU’s leading turfgrass management program and noted that Arcadia Bluffs regularly hosts student interns from MSU.

“As a Spartan myself, it’s great to welcome everyone here today,” said Bluck, who entered the room to MSU’s fight song. “I’m one of many groundskeepers working on golf courses and athletics facilities across the country because of the great programs offered at MSU.”

Later, at Ludington State Park, Ethan Theuerkauf, assistant professor of geography, environment and spatial sciences, along with a few of his students, discussed how they have been studying coastal erosion on Lake Michigan over the past several years. In partnership with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy’s Michigan Coastal Management Program, they inform coastal management decisions along the state’s coastlines by providing scientifically supported resources to shoreside communities and empowering them to adapt to changing conditions.  

“We have been using cutting-edge approaches and technologies, such as aerial drones and remotely operated boats,” said Theuerkauf, who displayed his small boats and drones on site. “Specifically, we want to identify areas of erosion and deposition along the coast, define what is causing these changes and forecast where sand might move in the future.”

For the final stop of the day, the bus made its way to Martinez Farm, an apple orchard based in Conklin that has partnered with MSU on programs like the Great Lakes Latina/o Farmers Program to address the challenges faced by farmworkers and farm owners.

Owner Paulino Martinez, along with Juan Zúñiga Vásquez, Antonio Castro and Juan Pedro Solorio, welcomed the group in both Spanish and English before passing the microphone to Elias Lopez, senior associate director of Migrant Student Services at MSU, who talked about how the program partners with the farm.

“We’re a program made up of various projects that work with farmworkers from the moment they’re born all the way up until they go to college and enter the corporate world,” said Lopez, who is also an MSU alum. “Essentially, we’re broadening the scope of what they can see for their futures while honoring their heritage and where they came from.”

Lopez oversees the MSU College Assistance Migrant Program Scholars Initiative, or MSU CAMP, a federally funded educational program that offers individuals with migrant or seasonal farmwork backgrounds a unique opportunity to begin an undergraduate program at MSU.

“I was part of the program when it was first funded many years ago, and it really changed my life to be able to think about college or know that it existed as a possibility,” Lopez said. “It gave me the tools to be able to be successful in college and to create a future that neither I, nor my family, could have imagined.”

Regina Rocha and Rodrigo Barbosa, current MSU students and CAMP scholars, shared their experiences with the group as part of the stop. MSU faculty member and bus tour participant Nwando Achebe said that hearing from the two of them was a particularly powerful experience.

“What drew me to MSU 19 years ago, and keeps me here, is its land-grant mission — uplifting our local and global environments through transformative work,” said Achebe, the Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History and associate dean for access, faculty development and strategic implementation in the College of Social Science. “It was deeply meaningful to me to hear from these migrant students about their challenges in the fields and the support provided by MSU’s programs. It made me proud to be both a Spartan and a Michigander.”

The tour’s second day ended with a reception at the Muskegon Museum of Art, which is known for its extensive collection of American and European artwork. There, Teresa Dunn, a Mexican American artist and professor in the MSU College of Arts and Letters introduced her painting “All Yellow (Morgan Hill).” The work, a portrait of one of her graduate students, received Best of Show as part of the 95th Michigan Contemporary Art Exhibition currently on view at the museum. She spoke to the group about the importance of art as a vehicle for change, empowerment and self-exploration.

Day 3: Exploring innovation in education and health

The first stop of the final leg of the Spartan Bus Tour offered one of the most transformative experiences for many of the participants: a chance to hear from Muskegon High School students about their experiences in two precollege programs offered by MSU in osteopathic medicine and education.

Adriaunna Nickson, a senior who will graduate as part of the school’s 150th class in the spring, is participating in a dual enrollment program that has allowed her to take prerequisite education courses in MSU’s College of Education alongside her studies at Muskegon High School. She addressed the inaugural bus tour cohort.

“This program has made me realize that I want to be a future educator,” said Nickson, who plans to pursue a degree in education from MSU. “What I have really learned in this program is that I want all kids to feel accepted in my classroom regardless of their differences; every kid deserves to learn, and I am glad to play a part in helping to teach the next generation of students.”

Maddison Ledesma, also a senior in the program, added: “Everyone should be celebrated for their uniqueness even if they have different ways of learning, and I’m excited to become a teacher where I can make sure that happens in my classroom.”

Gail Richmond, a professor in MSU’s College of Education and director of the Teacher Preparation Program, said that the program is important for communities like Muskegon because of the agreements with the districts they work with.

“This is part of our ‘grow your own’ initiative, Richmond said. “We want people from this program to go back to live, teach and contribute to the communities they grew up in. They end up being better role models because they grew up here, went to school here and have similar lived experiences as the kids they’ll one day teach and inspire.”

On the way to the next stop at the Grand Rapids Innovation Park, the bus took participants on a drive through Rockford to learn about MSU’s role in monitoring and remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the area. Often referred to as “forever chemicals,” PFAS are human-made and can be found in many products manufactured in the region.

While the bus passed by major sites of contamination, three guests presented: Tobyn McNaughton, a member of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network, explained the ways her family’s health has been impacted by PFAS; Rick Rediske, professor emeritus of Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resource Institute, discussed his research and advocacy efforts in partnership with others in the state; and Assistant Professor and PFAS researcher Courtney Carignan discussed MSU’s efforts to test and remediate these chemicals that have affected families like McNaughton’s.

“Here we have two issues going on at the same time — we’re trying to deal with legacy PFAS contamination while also trying to figure out how to stop the ongoing contamination,” said Carignan. “I am concerned with solving these problems and addressing ongoing emissions and exposures to protect our population, especially the most vulnerable, our children.”

In Grand Rapids, the group met with innovators like Andre Bachmann and Kathy Steece-Collier, professors in the College of Human Medicine who are dedicated to bringing their research to the real world. The Grand Rapids Innovation Park anchors the “Medical Mile” in the city and includes the MSU Grand Rapids Research Center, Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building and Perrigo’s North American corporate headquarters. MSU’s College of Human Medicine has roots there, as well, and is located in the nearby Secchia Center.

In the final stretch of the tour’s more than 700-mile journey, the bus made a stop at MillerKnoll’s headquarters. The furniture manufacturer that does business as Herman Miller is one of three world-renowned companies in the office furniture manufacturing industry that are based in West Michigan. Others include Steelcase in Grand Rapids and Haworth in Holland.

“MillerKnoll is an innovator first and foremost,” said Chief Financial Officer and Broad College of Business alum Jeff Stutz.

“We pride ourselves on being people-centered in our innovation, and an institution like MSU has so much to offer. We talked in our meeting about the top-notch packaging and amazing engineering programs at the university — that’s the type of insight that can help us to tackle the real-world problems we’re facing today in areas of sustainability, innovation and the changing world of work. We think there are many opportunities to partner with the university in the future.”

To round out the tour before heading back to East Lansing, participants had an opportunity to learn more about another MSU pride point, the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station.

“Our mission is to study fundamental research in ecology and evolution and to also apply that research to human problems like sustainable agriculture, conservation and restoration,” said KBS Interim Director Jeff Conner. “We’re unique in our ability to integrate laboratory and field research due to our access to 4,500 acres of land, 60,000 square feet of research space and year-round faculty. We’re a biological field station and an AgBioResearch center as well.”

Back on the banks of the Red Cedar

As the first Spartan Bus Tour cohort headed back to campus, participants expressed a mix of emotions: sadness that their time together was coming to an end as well as excitement for how they would apply their new knowledge and relationships to the work that they do at MSU.

Jo Latimore, outreach specialist in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, said that she was energized by her ability to build valuable connections so quickly.

“In just three days, I’ve initiated new partnerships that are likely to lead to improved exposure for my work, interdisciplinary research and outreach collaborations, and growth of a center I’ve recently initiated, the MSU Extension Center for Lakes and Streams,” she said.

Upenyu S. Majee, inaugural director of the Institute of Ubuntu Thought and Practice in the College of Arts and Letters, said that the tour will continue to be a reminder of how to center his work in Michigan.

“As I look back to the three-day tour and look ahead to the multifaceted possibilities for deepening existing partnerships and establishing new ones, I keep wrestling with these questions: ‘Who might be missing in the engagements and why?’ and, ‘How might we combine the celebratory thrust of the tour with an honest reckoning with where we might be falling short as individuals and as an institution?’”

Bess German, assistant dean in MSU’s Honors College mentioned that the tour has already sparked an artistic collaboration, new research partnerships and ideas around how she might go about recruiting new students.

“Whether hearing directly from CAMP students, learning about what goes into running a biological research station or standing face to face with a piece of art that changes your perspective, the Spartan Bus Tour offered an unparalleled chance to see MSU’s exceptional scope and broad impact in our state,” she said. “Though I’ve worked at MSU for a long time, I was stunned by our research and reach across Michigan that only scratched the surface of our engagement in just a segment of the state.”

As faculty and administrators exited the bus once it returned to campus, each took a marker and signed their names to the custom green and white wrap before heading into a closing reception at Cowles House. Several participants, including Assistant Professor of Journalism Christina Myers, shared prepared remarks.

“Let us continue — together — from this day forward, to maintain what we’ve attained in unity and community to continue working toward a sustainable future for those who have the great privilege and blessing of touching the lives of those across this great state and beyond. Let what we’ve felt, what we feel in this moment, be shared with all those we come in contact with. And remember: Spartans will because we already and always have.”

“It was special, and we accomplished exactly what we set out to do,” said President Guskiewicz, as he reflected on the tour in closing. “This was our first Spartan Bus Tour, and I believe everyone who got off of that bus will become even more passionate ambassadors for MSU. My hope is that we can get even more of our Spartan community on the tour next year.”