Spartan Bus Tour reflections: ‘Sharing what we know, listening to what we don’t’
Michigan State University faculty share their experiences during their journey across southern Michigan
From Oct. 26 to 28, Michigan State University faculty members and administrators stepped out of their departments and onto the Spartan Bus Tour, traveling from lakeshore to lakeshore across southern Michigan. The three-day journey was designed to immerse university leaders in the research, outreach and community partnerships that define MSU’s presence in the region.
During the three-day journey, participants reflected on experiences ranging from learning about college access programs and supporting new families in Jackson to exploring innovation at Mars Snacking in Battle Creek to discovering efforts to protect Michigan’s shoreline at Weko Beach.
Along the way, they found a renewed sense of purpose and connection with the communities they visited and also with one another.
Joe Hamm
Professor in the School of Criminal Justice, College of Social Science
“I would argue that in a lot of ways, the Spartan Bus Tour is a trust tour. As someone who studies trust, I think a lot about what it takes to build it, especially at a time when universities and institutions of science are being asked to demonstrate their value. The answer is actually pretty simple: If you want someone to trust you, you have to be worthy of that trust. Throughout this tour, we saw what that looks like in practice — in the pride of our alumni, the impact of our research and the relationships we’ve built with communities across Michigan.
“Lately, there have been a lot of conversations about trying to understand the social purpose of universities. We do a lot. But for me, the core purpose that we serve — that I don’t really think any other sector can replace — is that we’re really a place to imagine a better world without the restrictions of bottom lines. I’m left thinking about Dr. Mona Hanna’s Rx Kids program. As academics, we hear ‘no’ a lot. As a grad student, I used to keep every rejection letter and every acceptance to try to remind myself of how many rejections you can get and still be deserving of that one ‘yes’ you really want. The answer is: it’s a lot. But one thing that I do think we heard often and loud throughout the tour is the importance of understanding what a ‘no’ really means, and whether a ‘no’ is really justified. So as a university, we have the responsibility of refusing to be limited to what the world is and insisting on showing what it could be.”
Carolina de Aguiar Ferreira
Assistant professor in the departments of Radiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Biomedical Engineering; colleges of Human Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine and Engineering
“In Jackson, we heard about opening doors for students and supporting families. At Corewell, we saw the connection between medical education and caring for communities. At Weko Beach, we saw people working together to protect a place they love. At Vandalia, we learned about the courage to do something for others even when it costs us something. We saw even more ways that knowledge, education and community come together. Different places. Different needs. But the same importance of connection.
At every stop, MSU meant something to someone. MSU wasn’t just a name on a sign at these stops. It was a relationship ... this trip brought that back to me and why I’m doing all of this work at MSU that connects to something much larger than me. What I saw was a university showing up across Michigan, sharing what we know, listening to what we don’t and building relationships that make our work matter beyond our own walls.”
Karenanna Boyle Creps
Associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, College of Education
“The Spartan Bus Tour showed me what it means to be Michigan’s state university, as we met so many students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of MSU who are collaborating for the greater good of Michigan’s abundant civic and natural resources. They are doing this through public engagement, environmental stewardship, cutting-edge technologies and commitments to uplifting knowledge of the whole of Michigan’s history and present, while working toward a brighter future for us all.”
Ashley Malliett
Assistant professor and clinical coordinator in the College of Osteopathic Medicine
“The Spartan Bus Tour was an incredibly refreshing and valuable experience. It provided new perspectives, meaningful connections and an important reminder that when you surround yourself with people who are passionate, collaborative and committed to finding solutions, incredible things can happen. Sometimes, all it takes is finding the right group of people who are willing to make things work rather than focus on why they can’t. Most importantly, it was a reminder of how powerful it is to feel that you belong, that your ideas are valued and that you have something meaningful to contribute, which is at the heart of why MSU is so impactful in the state of Michigan and beyond.”
“I have a little bit of a different perspective. I wouldn’t be standing in this room with anybody if it wasn’t for a place like the College and Career Access Center in Jackson. I’m the product of a program like that, and I’m a first-generation college student. My dad actually went back to college while I was getting my master’s through that same program. I’m one person with that opportunity, but to see that impact in another community so that other people like myself can have that opportunity was really impactful to see.”
Joe Courtade Moon
Director of M.S. in Accounting and Data Analytics, Eli Broad College of Business
“Seeing the variety of people’s passions and what motivates them really stuck with me. With Dr. Mona, I saw her holding that 3-month-old baby and staring at her face and saying ‘This is why I do this.’ At another visit, we saw Dr. Ethan standing on a sand dune working to save Michigan’s coastline, and that’s where he’s found this passion. Same for the folks in front of Corewell Health Lakeland in St. Joseph greeting us out front, and for the folks in the College and Career Access Center in Jackson. We all have a hand in helping educate the next generation of students, professionals and academics. Hopefully we’ve all found, or at least are on the track to finding, our own sand dune or small child that fuels passion. And hopefully we also help inspire that with our students as well.”
Mary Patillo-Dunn
Assistant professor and coordinator of the Urban Educators Cohort Program, College of Education
“I expected to learn about MSU’s reach across the state but did not expect to connect and bond with participants in a way that was so needed. I also did not expect to feel so much pride in an institution. I was really overwhelmed and grateful for the experience. I left truly inspired and feeling lucky to be part of this institution and lucky to be able to share mission and values with colleagues around campus.”
Susan McFarlane-Alvarez
Professor of advertising and public relations, College of Communication Arts and Sciences
“It brought to life the meaningful ways that MSU brings innovation and sustainability to life through partnerships that build through lifetimes, even generations of connection, through research that matters to communities.”
Teresa Mastin
Vice provost and associate vice president for Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs
“Spending time together further strengthened our shared commitment, both professionally and personally, to advancing the greater good.”
Lauren Sullivan
Associate professor of plant biology, College of Natural Science
“I got to experience the multitude of ways MSU reaches the Michigan community, not just in ways I’m familiar with from my field of natural resources, but from the diversity of ways that MSU is important, including healthcare, industry and education. I also made a lot of really amazing connections with MSU faculty and staff, and I anticipate we will have many opportunities to collaborate in the future.”
Maggie Williams
Assistant professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering
“As a researcher particularly interested in the connection between human, animal and environmental health, called One Health, it was amazing to see MSU’s impact in real communities in southern Michigan. We learned about MSU researchers directly improving health outcomes in families while solving poverty. We visited farms where MSU is working with local farmers to improve animal health. We saw how innovations in environmental monitoring can improve the quality of our Great Lakes and other waters for the health and enjoyment of our communities. It was clear that MSU is a leader in all dimensions One Health, and it made me even more proud to be a Spartan!”
Patrick Crane
Assistant professor and nurse practitioner, College of Nursing
“The Spartan Bus Tour puts on display the power and the possibilities of the land-grant mission of Michigan State University. It helped remind me that Michigan State University does not live in East Lansing, but rather in the lives of every Michigander we touch.”
Shelby Johnson
Supervising attorney, MSU Law Tax Clinic, College of Law
“The bus tour is the embodiment of what it means to be a Spartan! The MSU community is unlike any other, and this experience just solidified that. As Kevin said, Spartans are in the business of changing peoples’ lives, and every single person on that bus tour got to experience that firsthand.”
Darline El Reda
Associate professor, director of the Master of Public Health Program, associate chair of education, College of Human Medicine
“I met numerous faculty from across the university that I probably would never have met were it not for this bus tour. Faculty that I plan on connecting and collaborating with on curriculum development for the Master of Public Health. The faculty across MSU hails from all over the world, and their passion for their work is awe-inspiring. Every place we visited was a reminder of the real and significant impact MSU research, investment and education is having across communities in Michigan. Seeing and hearing from MSU alumni working across a variety of employment sectors also brought on tremendous feelings of pride.”
Maddy Mavrogordato
Professor and director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, College of Education
“One of the things that really made me stop and think was Dr. Mona Hanna’s story about starting Rx Kids, the program we learned about in Jackson. As some folks in the room may know, we have a literacy situation in our state right now. And we also have a math situation that’s less talked about, but it’s there. And my big question is, OK, we have the problem, right? What is the Rx Kids for education? What is it for literacy? What’s the prescription? What’s the remedy? It just gave me a frame of mind and a reference point — and a way of thinking big about trying to solve and grapple with this problem.”
Dong Zhao
Professor of construction management, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
“What really struck me is real-world impact. Ten years ago, I developed a new technology in my class. We would use a phone to scan two-dimensional building blueprints and see everything in 3D. I used that technology to engage my students. At the time, it was Dr. Dong’s magic trick. Every time, the students would say, ‘Wow!’ Ten years later, I still use that trick. I still get that ‘wow’ from my students, but from my perspective, this is 10-year-old technology. All that development and innovation has stayed in my lab for 10 years. Our students are still amazed, but how can we take the new innovations and technologies we produce in our laboratories and bring them into our communities? How can we turn them into real-world impact? That’s something I look forward to thinking about into the future.”
Shashank Priya
Vice President for Research and Innovation
“We saw so much about an innovation-based economy. When we went to Mars Snacking in Battle Creek, I was amazed that you could innovate with a brand that’s 60 years old and they’re still innovating. Then we went to the St. Julian Winery and Distillery, where they described how they’re continuously introducing different wines. That’s another kind of innovation. The customers come there because they experience something new every time they visit. That’s how you can keep growing a business, because you’re innovating and creating new things all the time. And even at our last stop at Weko Beach, I was amazed that they were able to use lidar on an iPad to map the elevation of the sand, which gives the community the information they need to take preventive action. For me, it was seeing innovation in places where you don’t necessarily think about it. I loved learning about the ways in which people in Michigan are creating new products, pushing new ideas forward and creating new solutions to problems that help all of us.”
Maji Debena
Assistant professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, College of Human Medicine
“As an implementation scientist who is also in public health, we always say it takes 17 years to translate 14% of clinical research into real-world settings. And from what we saw on the tour — while not necessarily in the clinical sense — is how that gap is shrinking through partnerships and community engagement. That gave me hope.”