Provost advances bold priorities after year of listening, learning

Provost Laura Lee McIntyre’s first year was defined by listening and learning across Michigan State University in preparation for launching initiatives that could shape MSU’s future.

McIntyre officially began her tenure as MSU’s provost and executive vice president for academic affairs in August 2025. Throughout her first year, she prioritized listening to students, faculty and staff while developing future strategic priorities.

In addition to numerous speaking engagements throughout the academic year, the provost completed a campuswide Listening and Learning Tour that began in fall 2025 and concluded in early spring 2026. The tour included more than 40 stops across MSU colleges, administrative units and special interest groups, creating opportunities to hear directly from faculty, staff, students and partners about their experiences, priorities and ideas for the university’s future.

“One of the things that stands out is just what an amazing community we have at Michigan State,” McIntyre said. “It extends beyond our faculty, staff and students here in East Lansing. I toured the state and met folks at different campuses. I had a chance to connect with alumni, and it’s just a really special community.”

With her first year behind her, McIntyre now looks to collaborate with campus partners and begin implementing some of her most significant priorities — modernizing general education, building a forward-thinking strategic enrollment plan and implementing One Team, One Health, which will create a new medical college while imagining how the impact of medical education, research and training can be accelerated.

Reimagining general education and readying Spartans for the future

Modernizing general education is one of McIntyre’s top priorities. Led by the faculty General Education Council, the multiyear effort draws on research and campus feedback to develop a proposed curriculum for review through academic governance.

The effort aims to help students connect learning across disciplines, better understand themselves and the world around them, and apply their knowledge to complex challenges. The proposed curriculum emphasizes communication, quantitative reasoning, ethical decision-making, curiosity and collaboration.

The work also considers how students can connect their education to their interests, future careers and contributions to their communities. Engagement with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, is among the opportunities being considered to prepare students for a changing world.

“We have an incredible opportunity to imagine a curriculum for our students’ needs, not only now, but their needs for the future,” McIntyre said.

In August 2025, the university launched ai.msu.edu, a central hub for AI-related information, tools, resources, use cases, events and guidance. In conjunction with the website, campuswide AI guidelines were developed collaboratively by faculty, staff and campus partners to establish expectations for the ethical, responsible and transparent use of AI across educational, research, scholarly, artistic and administrative contexts. The guidelines will be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect emerging technologies and evolving best practices.

Since then, MSU has continued to expand AI education and engagement through initiatives such as the AI-Ready Spartans: Education Innovation Grants Challenge, which invited faculty and academic partners to design transformative learning experiences that advance AI literacy, workforce readiness and teaching innovation. The university awarded more than $500,000 to support 18 projects, which are now in the design and implementation phase.

AI-Ready Spartans is one of the faculty- and staff-led Green and White Initiatives, which were informed by insights from President Kevin M. Guskiewicz’s Green and White Council. Through another initiative, Career-Connected Spartans, the university is leveraging technology to provide all undergraduates with meaningful opportunities to explore careers, gain practical experience, and develop the skills, confidence and clarity needed to successfully enter the workforce.

Accelerating medical education impact with One Team, One Health

McIntyre sees the creation of a new medical college as one of MSU’s biggest opportunities.

President Guskiewicz announced One Team, One Health in February 2025. This strategic initiative includes uniting the College of Human Medicine and College of Osteopathic Medicine into MSU Medicine.

“We are creating something new,” McIntyre said. “Not just merging two colleges in existence but really imagining how we can accelerate the impact of our medical education, research and clinical training through a new MSU Medicine college.”

Creating MSU Medicine leverages the strengths of MSU’s osteopathic and human medicine programs and creates a “front door” for clinical partners, she said. It allows MSU to strengthen its voice in health sciences and medical education and will prepare students for the future in their medical education and health professions.

McIntyre highlighted the growing Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences partnership, which is creating opportunities across MSU, from the arts and sciences to agriculture and environmental health.

“As we evolve into the next chapter of the Henry Ford Health + MSU partnership, I’m really excited to tap into the power of our academic mission and fuel that partnership in ways that we haven’t done in the first five years of our partnership,” McIntyre said.

Building on first-year accomplishments

With the new academic year under way, McIntyre is focused on future priorities and goals, but she highlighted several accomplishments from her first year that she hopes to build on going forward.

Addressing student mental health services was among the first major challenges she faced at MSU.

In fall 2025, as part of university budget reductions, it was announced that psychiatric services would transition from University Health and Well-Being, or UHW, to MSU Health Care. The psychiatric services transition was paused soon after to allow time to further evaluate and determine a plan that was student-focused and would position MSU as a premier health-promoting university.

Working with Vice President for Student Affairs Jim Hintz and campus partners, McIntyre helped preserve psychiatric services within UHW after gathering student and partner input.

“There were some proposals to shift those services, not reduce access, but move them away from a university student-facing health care clinic,” McIntyre said. “I’m really proud of the work that we did, preserving those services here, prioritizing health and well-being for our students, for our faculty and our staff. I applaud the efforts of UHW and appreciate their continued focus on Michigan State University being a health-promoting campus.”

Collaboration was also a theme in the ongoing MSU Budget Model Redesign project, another accomplishment McIntyre highlighted. The initiative aims to develop a sustainable budget model while including a comprehensive engagement strategy to allow campus community involvement. Although more work is yet to be done, McIntyre believes the work thus far supports the university’s academic mission.

Experiencing the land-grant mission

As part of her goals to listen and learn during her first year at MSU, McIntyre participated in the Spartan Bus Tour last fall, which gave her the opportunity to see firsthand the impact MSU and its land-grant mission continue to make in Michigan.

During the three-day tour, participants visited communities, businesses, research sites and healthcare organizations in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula to learn how MSU supports residents and industries.

With her first year completed, McIntyre is ready to pursue bold initiatives and priorities. The work of the university, she said, is just getting started.

“I am so optimistic about our future,” McIntyre said. “I see who we have in our community and the dedicated, amazing, curious students, our faculty and staff that support the institution in big and small ways. And the love of Michigan State extends beyond our campuses. It’s really incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it.”