Michigan State University (MSU) offers over 200 academic programs at its East Lansing, Michigan campus. MSU is well known for its academic programs in education and agriculture, and the university pioneered the studies of packaging, horticulture and music therapy. MSU has one of the premier hospitality schools in the United States, and the study abroad program is one of the largest of any university in the nation, offering more than 300 programs in more than 60 countries on all continents, including Antarctica. MSU's Office of the University Ombudsperson is the oldest continually operating ombudsman office at a college or university in the country. Its most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were: Advertising (565) Biology/Biological Sciences (477) Psychology (402) Exercise Science and Kinesiology (388) Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management (365) Finance (343) Mass Communication/Media Studies (300)

As a research university, MSU is one of 66 members of the Association of American Universities. Since its inception as a small agricultural college in 1855, MSU has put a strong emphasis on research. Research performed at MSU has greatly contributed to scientific progress and discoveries related to hybrid corn, homogenized milk, chemotherapy drug cisplatin, and Germanium isotope Ge-60.

Organization Michigan State University is organized into 17 degree-granting colleges:

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources College of Arts and Letters The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management College of Communication Arts and Sciences College of Education College of Engineering College of Human Medicine James Madison College

College of Law Lyman Briggs College College of Music College of Natural Science College of Nursing College of Osteopathic Medicine Residential College in the Arts and Humanities College of Social Science College of Veterinary Medicine

Demographics

As of the 2016-2017 academic year, Michigan State had the ninth largest student body in the United States. As of Fall 2021, there are 49,659 total students, with 38,574 undergraduates and 11,085 graduate and professional students. The undergraduate student body is 51.6% female and 48.4% male. While 73.5% of the entire student body comes from 82 out of 83 counties in the State of Michigan, also represented are all 50 states in the U.S. and about 126 other countries. MSU has about 5,670 faculty and academic staff members, and a student-faculty ratio of 16:1. Like other large American universities, MSU has a large number of teaching assistants teaching upper-level courses. This led The Princeton Review in 2005 to rank MSU eleventh worst in the category of "teaching assistants teach too many upper-level courses".The Princeton Review. "Teaching Assistants Teach Too Many Upper-Level Courses". 2005.

Rankings

MSU ranks 93rd in the world according to Times Higher Education World University Rankings, with U.S. News & World Report ranking MSU 83rd in their Best National University Rankings. The university has over 200 academic programs, several of them highly ranked. U.S. News ranks MSU's graduate-level Elementary Teacher Education, Secondary Teacher Education, Curriculum and Instruction, and Rehabilitation Counseling programs number one in the nation. U.S. News & World Report also ranks MSU's Nuclear Physics program number one in the country. Indeed, MSU's Physics & Astronomy department ranks highly based on the number and impact of faculty publications. In addition to this, U.S. News ranks MSU's undergraduate and graduate Supply Chain Management programs in the Eli Broad College of Business number one in the nation. The National Communication Association ranks MSU doctoral programs as the nation's most effective in educating researchers in health communication and communication technology.Hollihan, Tom. "2004 Study of the Reputational Programs in Communication. National Communications Association. Accessed April 12, 2007. MSU also is ranked in the top four in several other communication fields, including international/intercultural communication, mass communication and interpersonal communication. Other programs of note include criminal justice,Rykert, Wilbur Lewis. "The History of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University 1935-1963" (Masters Thesis). 1985. music therapy,"About Us: Fast Facts . MSU College of Music. Accessed April 12, 2007. hospitality business,"Historic Milestones " The School of Hospitality Business. Accessed April 12, 2007. packaging,"History ". MSU School of Packaging. Accessed April 12, 2007. political science,"Achievements ". MSU Department of Political Science. Accessed April 12, 2007. and communications."CAS > Tour > Highlights.". MSU College of Communications Arts and Sciences. Accessed April 12, 2007. MSU's study abroad program is one of the largest of any university in the United States, with 2,832 MSU students studying abroad in 2018–19 in over 60 countries on all continents, including Antarctica.

Research

For fiscal year 2019-2020, MSU's total research expenditures were $713.2 million, and Federally funded research expenditures were $329.7 million, capping a long history of productive research. In the late 19th century, botany professor William J. Beal's research consisted of using cross-fertilization leading to hybrid corn, becoming one of the pioneers in the development of hybrid corn and doubling the yield of corn plantings at the time. In the early 20th century, MSU dairy professor and industry pioneer G. Malcolm Trout made significant progress in milk production methods, though he did not invent the processes of pasteurization nor homogenization. In the 1960s, Chemistry professor Barnett Rosenberg and colleagues Loretta VanCamp and Thomas Krigas observed that certain platinum compounds inhibited cell division, and by 1969 demonstrated that these compounds cured solid tumors, leading to the development of the leading chemotherapy drug that eventually resulted from this work, cisplatin.

Today, Michigan State continues its research with facilities such as the U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory and a particle accelerator called the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory."National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory". National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. Accessed May 14, 3007. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB)—a $730M scientific user facility funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, MSU, and the State of Michigan—will advance nuclear physics and provide research opportunities for scientists and students from around the globe. FRIB is expected to be fully operational in 2022 and is ahead of schedule. In 2004, scientists at the Cyclotron produced and observed a new isotope of the element germanium, called Ge-60."New germanium isotope discovered at MSU ". MSU Today. July 29, 2004. Accessed April 12, 2007. In 2004, Michigan State, in consortium with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the government of Brazil, broke ground on the 4.1-meter Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR) in the Andes Mountains of Chile. The consortium telescope will allow the Physics & Astronomy department to study galaxy formation and origins."Points of Pride ". MSU Today. March 25, 2005. Accessed April 12, 2007. Since 1999, MSU has been part of another consortium called the Michigan Life Sciences Corridor, which aims to develop biotechnology research in the State of Michigan.Truscott, John. "Governor Signs Bill Creating 'Life Sciences Corridor' in Michigan ". Michigan Executive Office press release. July 19, 1999. Accessed April 12, 2007. The College of Communication Arts and Sciences' Quello Center researches current issues of information and communication management. Avida, an artificial life software platform to study the evolutionary biology of self-replicating and evolving computer programs, is under active development by Charles Ofria in the Digital Evolution Lab of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.Computer Science Michigan state University Albert Fert, an Adjunct professor at MSU, was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Peter Grünberg.Adjunct physics professor at MSU wins Nobel Prize The State News Accessed: Oct. 10, 2007. In February 2010, a $25 million grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation to the university to develop a Bio/computational Evolution in Action Consortium (BEACON) within the Biomedical and Physical Sciences Building.

Endowment

MSU's (private, non-Morrill Act) endowment started in 1916 when the Engineering Building burned down. Automobile magnate R. E. Olds helped the program stay afloat with a gift of $100,000. While this opened the door for other types of private donations, MSU has often lagged behind peer institutions in terms of endowments. As recently as the early 1990s, MSU was last among the eleven Big Ten schools, with barely over $100 million in endowment funds. However, in the early 2000s, the university started a campaign to increase the size of the endowment. At the close of FY 2004–05, the endowment had risen to $1.325 billion, raising the university to sixth of the 11 Big Ten schools in terms of endowment; within $2M of the fifth-rated school.Seguin, Rick. "Endowment surges in growth, rankings ". MSU News Bulletin. 2006. Accessed April 12, 2007. As of June 30, 2021, MSU's endowment had a market value of $4.4 billion.

Programs

James Madison College

James Madison College (JMC), one of MSU's three residential colleges, started in 1967. The concept behind Madison College was to merge the best attributes of a small public affairs college with the resources of a major university. Though JMC started as an experiment, it is now a well-respected liberal arts program.Goode, Stephen. "Winning Colleges." Insight. October 2, 2000. Madison admits about 320 students each year, holding the total student body around 1,150. Classes in the college are small, with an average of 25 students, and most instructors are tenure track faculty with PhDs or occasionally PhD candidates."Quick Madison Facts ". James Madison College @ Michigan State University. Accessed April 12, 2007. As a residential college, JMC has its classrooms, offices, and student housing together in Case Hall. As part of its "living-learning" philosophy, JMC requires freshmen students to live in Case during their freshman year."Handbook ". James Madison College @ Michigan State University. Accessed April 12, 2007.

Madison offers majors, which students choose at the end of their freshman year. The four majors are Political Theory and Constitutional Democracy, International Relations, Social Relations and Policy, and Comparative Cultures and Politics. All of JMC's majors require two years of foreign language and one "field experience”, either in the form of an internship or study abroad program. James Madison College also has a fairly large amount of academically successful students. Madison boasts numerous major award recipients, including Rhodes, Truman, Fulbright and Marshall Scholars to name a few. About 15% of its students are in the Honors College and though JMC only represents about 4% of MSU graduates the college, they make up around 35% of the MSU's Phi Beta Kappa members.

Residential College in the Arts and Humanities