MSU leads talent development for an innovation economy through Green and White Council  

Michigan State University today announced the signature initiatives of its Green and White Council to strengthen the state’s workforce, connect students to high-quality careers and accelerate innovation across industries.

“Today’s students will retire from jobs that do not even exist yet,” said President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D. “We want Spartans to continue to set the standard for propelling our state’s economy forward, and that is why I called upon the members of the Green and White Council to identify current needs and forecast the skills that will be essential for lifelong success. We are Michigan’s state university, and we are committed to equipping our graduates with dynamic skills and competencies for a future-facing economy.”

Launched by Guskiewicz in April 2025 and co-chaired by Matt Elliott and Sanjay Gupta, the Green and White Council comprises more than a dozen prominent leaders, including representatives from Assembly Ventures, Bedrock Detroit, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Carhartt, Dart Container, Ernst & Young, ITC Holdings, the Michigan Agri-Business Association, the Mott Foundation, OpTech and former senator Debbie Stabenow, reflecting a cross section of industries and experts driving today’s economy.

“The work of the Green and White Council sets the stage for a more competitive and tech-ready Michigan,” said Elliott. “Through the initiatives, Michigan leaders and MSU are aligning education, research and industry to drive growth. Together, these efforts will equip Spartans with AI and digital competencies, expand access to real-world career experiences and deepen MSU’s partnerships with industry.”

A $5 million seed gift from a Michigan State University alumnus will help launch the council’s initiatives and provide resources to innovate university efforts in artificial intelligence, experiential learning and applied research. The council anticipates additional philanthropic investments to expand opportunities for students, faculty and partners nationwide.

Specifically, the Green and White Council recommends three transformative initiatives:

• AI-Ready Spartans: Builds digital competencies by empowering faculty to lead the integration of AI across the undergraduate experience, while partnering with industry leaders to provide employer insights, with a goal of ensuring every graduate has ample opportunity to learn how to use AI effectively and responsibly.
• Career-Connected Spartans: Ensures every undergraduate gains access to career exploration and real-world experiences throughout their undergraduate journey at MSU so that they can build the skills, confidence and clarity needed to successfully launch into the workforce.
• Spartan Catalyst: Accelerates collaboration between MSU researchers and industry to translate discovery into innovation and economic impact by tackling society’s most pressing challenges.

“As an MSU academic leader, I want a degree from MSU to represent the aspirational standard of academic and career readiness across all sectors of the economy,” said Gupta. “Implementing these initiatives across the university will enhance every Spartan’s educational experience, prepare them for their jobs from day one, and put them at the very center of driving the next generation of innovation and excellence. The Green and White Council wants all graduates prepared for what comes next, and these initiatives help meet and beat that goal.”

AI-Ready Spartans

Employers increasingly expect graduates to bring AI and digital competency to every role, from business and engineering to health care and the arts. The demand for talented employees who can apply AI to solve complex problems continues to outpace supply, and the AI-Ready Spartans initiative focuses on preparing every Spartan to flourish in an AI-driven economy.

“In today’s world, every business is a technology business,” said Ronia Kruse, founder and CEO of OpTech and co-founder of Digital Lakes. “That’s why it’s critical for graduates, no matter their field, to build strong critical-thinking skills and learn how to use technology and AI in thoughtful, responsible ways. Michigan’s public universities play a vital role in preparing the adaptable, future-ready workforce our economy relies on.”

The core of AI-Ready Spartans sets the stage for faculty to collaborate and advance ongoing educational efforts in multiple ways, such as:

• The creation of a new elective foundational AI in Industry course to introduce how AI is used across key sectors and expose students to solve real-world applications.
  
• The launch of additional industry-aligned, standalone undergraduate AI certificates offered that could lead to stackable micro credentials that draw on learning outcomes and instructional content from existing and new courses across disciplines in areas such as health care, advanced manufacturing, arts and humanities, and other high-impact fields.
  
• The offer of immersive hands-on experiences throughout the year where students learn collaboratively to design AI-enabled solutions to real-world challenges faced by a variety of industries.

Efforts will pair MSU faculty expertise and strategic engagements with external thought leaders to align with evolving technologies, workforce expectations and economic priorities.

“At Blue Cross, we are using AI to improve outcomes and access to smarter, more coordinated care,” said Tricia Keith, president and CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. “We believe it’s vitally important to embrace AI in a thoughtful, responsible way — one that amplifies our capabilities and improves the outcomes and experience for our members.”

Career-Connected Spartans

Employers increasingly expect graduates to enter the workforce with not only strong academic preparation but also meaningful career-related experience — from early exploration to enhanced work-based learning. Career-Connected Spartans underscores the importance of experiential learning, a university priority reflected in MSU 2030: Excellence for Global Impact, and accelerates the university’s efforts to continue to increase student access to high-impact experiences throughout their time at MSU.

The Green and White Council’s Career-Connected Spartans initiative accelerates and expands ongoing efforts that connect career exploration with applied learning. From orientation to graduation, undergraduate students will be supported and have greater opportunities to complete multiple on- and off-campus high-impact and work-based experiences at MSU, including internships, externships, campus employment and employer-informed projects that translate academic learning into valuable career-ready skills. Grounded in our land-grant mission, the Career-Connected Spartans initiative will increase and enhance opportunities for Spartans to graduate with a competitive career-connected advantage.

“The more students engage in real-world experiences with employers and communities, the more confident they become in defining their path forward,” said Jared Fleisher, CEO of Bedrock Detroit. “That connection between learning and practice is what turns opportunity into long-term career momentum.”

Central to the multipronged initiative is Explore and Experience, a structured set of opportunities that will support students as they move from self-discovery and career exploration to applied learning. Through new and enhanced career exploration educational projects, industry connections, internships and externships, and on-campus employment alignment, students gain richer experience aligned with their aspirations. Students will be able to document their learning and accomplishments in the enhanced Spartan Experience Record (SER) giving them a clear way to showcase and communicate their skills to employers based on the curricular and cocurricular experiences they’ve had throughout their journey at MSU.

“Work-based learning gives students the experience and confidence employers are looking for,” said Linda Apsey, CEO of ITC Holdings. “Programs like Career-Connected Spartans will help build a stronger, more prepared talent pipeline by ensuring students can apply what they’ve learned in meaningful ways.”

By partnering with our academic community, embedding these experiences across all colleges and the entire student experience, MSU expands its capacity to ensure that every Spartan can graduate with real-world experience, career confidence and the ability to communicate their competitive value in a national job market.

“Agriculture is a leading economic engine for our state, and career-connected opportunities are crucial to help cultivate future leaders across the rural and agricultural workforce,” said Chuck Lippstreu, president of the Michigan Agri-Business Association.

Spartan Catalyst

With more than $900 million in annual research expenditures, Michigan State University ranks among the nation’s leading global public research universities. MSU’s scale and breadth enable close collaboration between faculty and industries to translate research breakthroughs into economic and community impact.

The university’s innovation ecosystem— which includes the MSU Innovation Center, Spartan Innovations, Red Cedar Ventures and the MSU Research Foundation — accelerates this work by supporting technology transfer, startup creation and industry partnerships that strengthen competitiveness.

“For the past 100-plus years, Michigan has invented, manufactured and assembled the products that move the world,” said Chris Thomas, co-founder and partner at Assembly Ventures. “Spartan Catalyst will help power an unremitting effort to make Michigan the most consequential place for innovation and industry in the Western world.”

Michigan State University boasts top-ranked supply chain management/logistics programs, with the undergraduate program consistently ranked No. 1. Spartan Catalyst will advance smart, resilient supply chain networks, drawing on MSU’s strengths across business, engineering, agriculture and health. The initiative integrates AI, analytics and sustainability to help organizations anticipate disruption, improve performance and build resilience. Early collaborations with council members, like Dart Container, will model how industry and researchers can work together to boost statewide competitiveness.

“Our future competitiveness depends on smarter, more adaptive supply chains,” said Keith Clark, CEO of Dart Container. “By working collaboratively with MSU, we can create resilient systems that anticipate disruption and improve performance.”

The university invites companies and industry leaders to partner on applied AI and digital competency curriculum, career exploration and experiential learning opportunities, and applied research collaborations. Employers play a pivotal role in preparing the future workforce, and MSU welcomes partners ready to build alongside and help power the innovation economy. Learn more and engage with the council’s initiatives online.

“For organizations like ours, the council provides a direct bridge to the university’s incredible talent pipeline,” added Angie Kelly, Ernst & Young Detroit office managing partner. “It’s about co-developing the skills and opportunities that will support students and drive business growth in Michigan and beyond.”

In the coming weeks, university leadership will align these recommendations from the Green and White Council with exciting and aspirational initiatives across academic, administrative and programmatic units at MSU. The university will also collaborate to identify metrics that track progress and convey the long-lasting impact of this critical investment.

“The Green and White Council reflects MSU’s mission as the state’s university,” said Laura Lee McIntyre, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “By aligning what we teach with the skills our economy demands, we’re helping to ensure that Spartans graduate ready to lead and that our research partnerships strengthen every region of the state.”