Quantcast
Channel: Fundraising News

MSU’s Ecosystem for Entrepreneurs

0
0

At Michigan State University, students, faculty and business advisors are excited about the opportunities and resources that encourage creative thinking to become new business ventures. MSU is a place where students and faculty have the tools, support and opportunity to commercialize their own ideas and capability. “We are building an ecosystem where success becomes contagious and spins off other ideas and other companies,” said Charles Hasemann, executive director of MSU Business-CONNECT.

Revamped curricula and other steps have encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit in students and alumni. Programs and resources for students, alumni and faculty include classes in entrepreneurship, business pitch competitions, business incubators, mentors and coaches, as well as seed funding to help start-ups get off the ground.

There is a mix of opportunities at MSU that encourage and stimulate engagement in the entrepreneurial process. The university’s budding and experienced entrepreneurs are active in all stages of commercializing start-ups – from ideation to launch – through programs and support systems offered by Greenlight Fellows, the Hatch, the Broad College Institute for Entrepreneurship, the Toolbox (College of Engineering), the Sandbox (College of Communication Arts and Sciences), the MSU Innovation Center, the MSU Entrepreneurship Network and ICE (Innovation Club for Entrepreneurs).

MSU Student Start-up Takes First at National Competition

“I was running one day last year, listening to my music, and a song came on that was just the perfect beat for me,” said Josh Leider, a senior marketing major. “Everything was perfect, and my run felt amazing. Then the song ended very abruptly, a new song came on that was very slow, and I couldn’t adjust back into that song. I thought, ‘Why can’t I always run to the tempo of my music?’ Hence, the idea, TempoRun.”

Leider joined forces with fellow runner Benny Ebert-Zavos, a hospitality business senior, and computer science seniors Phil Getzen and Adam Proschek. The TempoRun team first pitched their concept at the Broad Undergraduate Pitch Competition in the fall of 2012. They captivated the judges’ imagination by showing up in their running gear and were awarded first prize in the Broad competition. Within a few months, a new iPhone app was born. TempoRun took first place at the national Student Startup Madness (SSM) Tournament held at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin, Texas. The students won $5,000 from Google Cloud Platform to bring TempoRun to the iTunes market.

During development of the idea, TempoRun received support from Spartan Innovations, which provided $5,000 in funding from two MSU endowments created by the Gerstacker Foundation and the Forest Akers Trust, according to Paul Jaques, director of student and community engagement for Spartan Innovations. Jeff Smith from the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) also provided support. The students did much of their brainstorming at The Hatch, a student business incubator in East Lansing.

“It’s nice to know there are other entrepreneurs in the community, and we’ve learned that through Spartan Innovations and The Hatch,” Leider said. “We’re around them every day, which makes us well-rounded entrepreneurs and business people.”

In 2014 five MSU teams advanced to the round of 32 in the SSM competition, and one team, Carbon Cash, reached the Entrepreneurial Eight finals at SXSW, making MSU the first university to repeat at that level in the competition. Like TempoRun before it, the Carbon Cash team (Bernie Eisbrenner, John Bauer, Patrick Schmitz and Patrick McCarthy) won first prize in the Broad Undergraduate Pitch Competition. The team credits their experience in the Pitch Competition and the resources available to them through Spartan Innovations and the Hatch with helping them to advance through the national competition.

The Hatch

As a partnership among MSU’s Entrepreneurship Network, the City of East Lansing and LEAP, the Hatch is designed to host, encourage, cultivate and enable student entrepreneurs to grow their ideas in a collaborative environment. Hatch members develop their own business ventures while working with others to increase the probability of each venture’s success. The Hatch has space in East Lansing’s Technology and Innovation Center (TIC), located in a former large retail outlet on East Lansing’s main street. TIC tenants and close neighbors include a host of technology innovators and firms that help new businesses launch.

Spartan Innovations

Executive Director Brian Abraham oversees all aspects of Spartan Innovations. Abraham earned a PhD in Chemistry from Tufts University. His post-graduate career, however, was focused outside of the chemistry lab. Among his many accomplishments, Abraham has started and managed several tech companies and has taught entrepreneurship at both Babson College and The Ohio State University.

The Spartan Innovations team of professionals work with students and faculty and provide key resources to support the launch of more MSU start-ups:

• Student stipends to support hands-on learning situations;

• CEO mentors-in-residence to help manage new start-ups;

• Access to a network of venture investors;

• Gap funding to support the earliest stages of MSU technology development.

In addition to fulltime staff, the Spartan Innovations team includes accomplished ‘serial entrepreneurs’ and business executives who serve as CEOs-in-residence. These experienced executives provide technology/product development leadership and executive management for MSU start-up enterprises throughout the venture launch period. CEOs oversee the development of an investable business plan, and structure tasks, track progress, remove roadblocks, manage budgets, raise funds, and conduct regular reporting against milestones. The CEOs are supported by a highly selective team of MSU entrepreneurship scholarship graduate students.

Network of Opportunity

On campus, the Broad College of Business, the College of Communications Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering are committed to working together to offer classes and a center for ideation to any students from any disciplines who have a passion for creative innovation. These potential innovators have the opportunity to explore and develop their ideas in the early stages before advancing to The Hatch. Self-selected ‘future entrepreneurs’ have access to a community of experienced and engaged innovators as well as information about opportunities to learn and explore a variety of avenues and resources that will help them begin new business ventures.

MSU professors and post-graduate fellows across all disciplines are among the most prolific entrepreneurs on campus. Each year, the MSU Innovation Celebration showcases and recognizes inventions and innovations developed at MSU. In 2013, Dr. Marcos Dantus, professor of chemistry, was recognized as Innovator of the Year for his research in ultrashort pulse lasers. His work has resulted in 37 invention disclosures submitted to MSU Technologies since 1994. In 2004, Dr. Dantus started Biophotonic Solutions, Inc., a company that continues to market the technology Dantus created.

Partners for Innovation

The entrepreneurial ecosystem at Michigan State – from the classroom, to creative centers where students can exchange and nurture ideas, to the laboratories where new technologies are born, to the Hatch, to MSU Technologies – is possible because of the key partners who support the system.

The MSU Foundation underwrites MSU’s work in technology commercialization and provides facilities and building sites at the University Corporate Research Park for technology enterprises, initiatives and university/industry collaboration. Two of the foundation’s directors also are founding donors to the Institute for Entrepreneurship at the Broad College of Business.

 The Gerstacker Foundation Entrepreneurial Grant Program is an opportunity for undergraduate students from the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines to compete for funding for a research concept with entrepreneurial potential. Students develop a concept, conduct the research, and present their findings with the goal of getting their concept into use or production.

The Forest Akers Trust Entrepreneurial Grant Program is an opportunity for undergraduate students to compete for funding for a research concept with entrepreneurial potential. This program focuses on, but is not restricted to, non-STEM disciplines. Students develop a concept, conduct the research, and present their findings with the goal of getting their concept into use or production.

A Business Incubator

Michigan’s University Research Corridor (URC) is a business incubator for students, faculty and alumni of the three URC universities – Michigan State, Michigan and Wayne State. Their graduates have started or acquired businesses at double the national average rate among college graduates since 1996, according to a study released by the Anderson Economic Group (AEG) of East Lansing at the 2013 Detroit Regional Chamber’s Mackinac Policy Conference.

 The URC ranked second in 2012 in the Innovation Power Ranking – measuring talent production, research and development spending, and research commercialization – when compared to other major university research clusters in six states, including well-known hubs such as North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, California’s Innovation Hubs and Massachusetts’ Route 128 Corridor.

The URC universities conferred the most graduate and undergraduate degrees and the second-highest number of high-demand degrees among seven university innovation clusters nationwide in 2011, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said. “Michigan’s three premier research universities are doing more every year to promote an entrepreneurial mindset while helping Michigan’s businesses grow by providing the talent they need,” she said. “By focusing on entrepreneurship at all three universities, we’re creating a deep pool of talented graduates who can help start-up companies succeed.”

 

Supporting Start-ups and Entrepreneurship

MSU is committed to supporting new business ventures and promoting creative entrepreneurial initiatives.

AcademicPrograms

• Many of MSU’s 17 degree-granting colleges incorporate entrepreneurship-based courses and specializations into academic programs

• Certificate in Entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship concentration (MBA) and specialization (undergrad)

• Engineering Design Day at the end of each semester, when student teams from the College of Engineering exhibit capstone design projects and interact with industry sponsors

• Capstone courses

Resources and Opportunities

• Product Center helps Michigan entrepreneurs develop and commercialize high-value, consumer products and businesses in the agriculture, natural resources, and bioeconomy sectors

• Technology Innovation Center promotes economic development in East Lansing and provides office space, training, funding, and mentoring to the business community

• The Hatch hosts and cultivates student start-up businesses in a collaborative incubator environment

• Forest Akers Trust Grant – students compete for funding of concepts with entrepreneurial potential

• Gerstacker Foundation Grant– students compete for funding of concepts with entrepreneurial potential

• Entrepreneurship Network connects venture and social entrepreneurs with education, know-how, resources, mentors, advocates, and funding

• Institute for Entrepreneurship at Broad College of Business advances and promotes entrepreneurship at MSU and throughout Michigan through research, education, and outreach

• MSU College of Law Small Business and Nonprofit Clinic, where student clinicians empower small businesses and nonprofits by offering quality counseling, legal advice and representation, and community education information

• Career Services Network, an organization of career service professionals located in college-based and centralized career centers across campus that connects students with internship and job opportunities

Explore Michigan State’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

www.innovation.msu.edu/entrepreneurship

Gateway to:

• Spartan Innovations

• Business-CONNECT

• MSU Technologies

• Product Center

• Entrepreneurship Network

• Institute for Entrepreneurship

   and Innovation

and more


Sometimes speakers create writers

0
0

Great speakers can inject ideas and energy into entire departments and nudge students to think in completely new ways.

Jeff Grabill, professor and chair of the Department of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC), wants to bring in more experiential opportunities for professional writing students, but the department has a short history. And limited resources.

Enter John (’97, Communication Arts and Sciences) and Heather (’97, CAS; ’12, Arts and Letters) Hill who recently made a $10,000 unrestricted pledge to the department. Heather is a master’s-level digital rhetoric and professional writing (DRPW) graduate who considers her recent student experience life changing. She says she knew it would feel wonderful to help deliver a similar experience for others.

“With the resources Heather and John Hill are providing, we will bring in world class people from industry, cultural institutions and universities,” says Grabill. “We will be able to provide experiences for our students that we would otherwise be unable to make available, and our ability to do so makes MSU distinctive.”

John says he and Heather were destined to give back to the institution that had given them so much. They met at Michigan State as students in Journalism 300; married at the MSU Alumni Chapel and eventually both worked on campus—he in the MSU Alumni Association and she in the Broad College of Business. Today, she is a web content manager for Stanford University, and he’s the higher education evangelist at social media giant, LinkedIn.

“We have both worked in higher education, so we have this very unique view of the importance of gifts and how much they mean to the lifeblood of the institution,” John says.

“We have seen what those gifts actually do,” adds Heather. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without the DRPW program.”

For more information on making a gift to the College of Arts and Letters contact Director of Development Bridget Paff at paff@msu.edu or call (517) 353-4725.

The Business of Music

0
0

College of Music students are thriving as not only musicians but also as budding entrepreneurs thanks to the new Withrow Career Building Endowment in the College of Music, created by long time donors and supporters Jack and Dottie Withrow.

Students aiming for a life in music may take the traditional route of becoming full time educators or symphony or opera performers; but it is increasingly common for musicians to take an entrepreneurial path: carving out a niche or two, creating a professional brand and marketing it, explains David Rayl, director of Choral Programs and associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research in Music.

As members of the National Leadership Council for the college, the Withrows were well aware of the vision within the college’s leadership to prepare students for applying their life’s work anywhere in the world.

The generosity of John (Jack) (’54, Engineering; ’71, MBA, Business) and Dortha (Dottie) (’55, Education, with dual certification in Speech Therapy) Withrow previously helped commission a symphony in 2000, established the Withrow Endowed Fund for Excellence in Teaching in the College of Music, funded outreach and engagement efforts in Lansing and Detroit, and provided critical funding for chamber music and jazz performances. They targeted their latest gift, funded in part through the IRA rollover provision, to help music students pick up important skills in promotion, finance and business planning.

“I think being able to help students understand what is required to be not only a premier musician but also a top notch business person, will make a real difference for young people, for the growth of the arts and for our country,” says Jack.

Dottie adds: “We are blessed to support the collaborative efforts of the College of Music. We feel it is very important for students to receive a well-rounded education and one that will open up unique opportunities for success in whatever they choose to do.”

Senior Travis Sinclair, who is majoring in jazz studies in the College of Music and finance in the Broad College of Business, couldn’t agree more. Travis actually came to MSU in part because of the Withrows. They had heard him perform at their church in Bloomfield Hills and encouraged him to consider the College of Music at MSU. Travis, now a jazz saxophonist, started playing the piano at age four.

“Music is an art, but it is also a business,” says Travis. “You need to know how to market yourself and how to handle business relationships. Music will always be part of my life and very important to me. But you can have more than one love.”

Even in its first year, the Withrows’ endowment is already having an impact on business-related initiatives in the college.

The Dali Quartet from Chicago will offer performances and workshops to provide an insider’s view of how they built and structured their organization creatively and financially. Jacob Cameron (’98, Music) will visit campus to share how he runs his successful summer camps for aspiring young musicians. Additionally, the Withrow endowment is helping to underwrite a Broad College of Business course specifically for musicians as well as the Running Start multidisciplinary program that encourages students to visualize life as a working musician.

“In order to remain competitive it’s essential that we offer programming like this,” says Rayl. “We are so appreciative to the Withrows for valuing all that we do in the college—our performances, our teaching, and our efforts to develop these all important career building skills in our students.”

For more information on making a gift to the College of Music, contact Director of Development Rebecca Surian at surian@msu.edu or by calling 517-353-9872.

Bridging a Future

0
0

“Anybody who identifies with being a Spartan and feels their years and experience at MSU contributed to their life and successes, in any way, should consider giving back.”

Like gymnasts build themselves into bridges as they work their way to back handsprings, former gymnastics champion and current marketing expert Pamela (Pam) Steckroat Treadway (’78, Social Science; ’82, Business) has built a different kind of bridge through her generous gifts to Michigan State University.

For the College of Social Science, the bridge is strong: a $900,000 charitable bequest to create an endowed internship fund to match promising Economics students with meaningful internships that can launch them into the professional world.

Pam’s desire to help future Spartans led her to create three additional endowed funds as well, one for student-athlete support services, one to support Women’s Gymnastics and an endowed scholarship targeted toward student-athletes who want to pursue MBAs. She named MSU as a beneficiary of her retirement accounts, which is an easy process for anyone with such assets who wishes to remember MSU in their estate plans. In total, her future gifts will add up to $3.75 million.

Pam says it’s all about giving back to the place that helped make her who she is.

“MSU provided me with a great foundation to build a successful career,” she says. “It was natural for me to give back to MSU and specifically to the areas that meant something to me and really formed who I am in my career, in my life and in my success. I feel like I am home when I am here.”

Pam transferred as a junior to Michigan State in 1976 to continue competing at the collegiate-level as a gymnast. She made MSU proud by becoming the only two-time All-American champion in MSU’s gymnastics history.

She earned a degree in Economics and then completed her MBA. She found that employers looked to MSU as a hotbed for recruiting and that her sports background gave her an edge. She quickly landed a job with Procter & Gamble where she began a marketing and brand management career. Today, she is a successful and dynamic marketing executive, venturing in myriad areas from research and product development to social media marketing as a managing director of Moon & Stars Consulting.

She looks back fondly on her experiences at MSU, especially as an Economics undergrad. “The caliber of the professors, the classes and course content were stellar,” she recalls. For her, they were building blocks to later success, providing immense value and future opportunity.

“Making the decision to give financially, I believe, is a very personal matter,” she says. “Anybody who identifies with being a Spartan and feels their years and experience at MSU contributed to their life and successes, in any way, should consider giving back.”

She adds: “Any additional success I achieve now is for MSU. It feels so good to know I am working for the students at Michigan State. I’m working to make Michigan State better. And that drives me so much more than if it were just for me.”

Pam hasn’t finished building bridges at MSU. She and her husband Dean Treadway traveled back to campus this fall for Homecoming and they are active Spartan advocates in their home state of California.

“Wherever I go, Spartan connections seem to be the driving force now. I see people on Linkedin and the first thing I look for is where they went to school,” Pam says. “Was it Michigan State? There’s this strong, strong connection. There’s this bond like family.”

For more information on making MSU part of your estate plans, contact the Office of Gift Planning at (517) 884-1000 or go to giftplanning.msu.edu.

Kyle Simon (’13, College of Arts and Letters) contributed to this article.

On Modest Dreams, Becoming A Doctor and Giving Back

0
0

Kathy Assiff and Janet Osuch found encouragement at Michigan State University, particularly in the College of Human Medicine, that they could achieve more than either had dared dream. Now Osuch and Assiff have something else in common: both plan to leave much of their estates to fund endowed scholarships to help struggling students become physicians.

Both came from humble, even underprivileged beginnings. Both know what it’s like to grow up with low expectations, to struggle against sexism and with insufficient money to realize much beyond modest goals.

“I know the stories of a lot of the students who are accepted here,” Osuch says, “and a lot of their stories are like mine.”

No one in her family had gone to college, and she never expected to either. A high school counselor urged her to consider a career in health care.

“Women weren’t given the same opportunities that they’re given now,” Osuch says, so she took a six-month course to become a radiological technologist. That piqued her interest in becoming a medical technologist, which would require a four-year degree.

“I had no concept of what a university looked like,” she recalls. “I thought it would look like my high school,” with all classes crammed into a one building.

After Osuch earned her degree, a co-worker suggested they both apply to medical school.

“It was beyond my wildest dream to become a physician,” she says, “but I knew I was bored. I had to do something.”

The College of Human Medicine saw in her what she had failed to see in herself: the potential to become a great physician.

“The College of Human Medicine nurtured me,” Osuch says. “It reinforced all the values I had for the kind of doctor I wanted to be, a humanistic doctor, someone who would be kind to her patients.”

She became a surgeon, a professor of surgery and now the College of Human Medicine’s assistant dean for preclinical curriculum. And now she is giving something back. Each year she gives a scholarship for a struggling student, and she plans to leave a substantial amount of her estate as an endowment for future scholarships.

“I’ve been thinking about it for a few years,” Osuch says. “It’s going to be for students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford medical school. There’s nothing that means more to me than the profession of medicine and helping the next generation of physicians. It’s the greatest feeling in the world, it really is.”

That’s something else she and Kathy Assiff share.

Assiff’s mother took care of the kids while her father, a boiler operator for the Lansing Board of Water and Light, worked hard to support his family. His education went through the eighth grade. She would be the first member of her family to attend college.

Raising the money for tuition wasn’t easy, something Assiff never forgot. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MSU, she went to work for the university, first in the financial aid office. “Then I got to thinking,” she says, “and I saw the need of students in terms of debt,” a burden she, herself, had carried.

Now as director of the student program on the College of Human Medicine’s Flint Campus, Assiff works closely with medical students.

“I work with third- and fourth-year students every day,” she says.

“I support them emotionally.”

Recently she began to think of supporting them financially.

This spring, she gave the first of what she intends to be an annual scholarship. And, like Osuch, she plans to leave the bulk of her estate as an endowment, a perpetual fund to help other medical students long after she’s gone.

“It just makes me feel good, the fact that I can make a small difference in a student’s debt,” Assiff says. “At least the students know that somebody cares about them. I decided maybe it would serve as an incentive for other people to give scholarships. In fact, it already has.”

College of Human Medicine Dean Marsha Rappley, MD, has made it a priority to increase scholarship support, particularly since the college attracts many students who have the commitment and intelligence, if not the money, to complete a medical education. Assiff’s scholarship will be for needy students from Genesee and Ingham counties, particularly those interested in primary care and serving the underserved.

“I believe in the college’s commitment to primary care,” she says. “You can’t help but be proud to be part of this college that attracts all these bright, young students who want to serve. This is another way to show we care about them. It’s my way of saying, ‘I was here.’”

For more information on supporting scholarships in the College of Human Medicine, contact Senior Director of Development Susan Lane at lanes@msu.edu or call (616) 234-2614

Excellence in Sports Broadcasting

0
0

“This might be a gift certificate for golf,” thought Terry Braverman (’60, Communication Arts and Sciences) as he unrolled the scroll of paper his wife and family presented on his 75th birthday. But, it was something a lot bigger and longer lasting.

Terry’s family had created the Terry Braverman Excellence in Sports Broadcasting Scholarship to honor his distinguished career.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to perpetuate his legacy,” says Gail Braverman (’83, Social Science), Terry’s wife, who created the scholarship endowment with an IRA rollover gift to MSU.

Terry’s professional life included public and commercial radio and television sports broadcasting nationwide, with stops in Traverse City, Nebraska, Indiana and Hawaii, and 38 years at MSU. He hosted countless radio and television coaches’ shows, co hosting a weekly live sports news and interview show on WKAR-TV, as well as daily radio newscasts of varsity athletic news. He was often the voice of MSU as he served as the play-byplay announcer for men’s basketball, hockey and football, including several NCAA national championship games.

His diverse accomplishments also included serving as MSU’s Director of Athletic Fundraising (1974-2002), creating and hosting children’s television shows and taking the stage with local community theater groups. He still serves as the public address voice for the Detroit Lions as well as Spartan football and men’s basketball.

The new scholarship will support meritorious sports broadcasting students in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences. The assistance will enable the recipients to gain on-air experience through internships or other career-related activities, as Terry did during his MSU student days as a Radio-TV major from 1956-60.

Terry says the scholarship is the best gift he could have received.

“It will be enabling students who are the brightest and the best and who are going to have an impact in an exciting profession. It will bring my life almost full circle.”

To make a gift to the Terry Braverman scholarship, contact Director of Development for the College of Communication Arts and Sciences Meredith Jagutis at (517) 432-5672; jagutism@msu.edu.

Pushing Boundaries

0
0

From its steely, futuristic tilts to its global and always unconventional exhibits, the magnetism of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, now in its second year, is undeniable.

The Broad MSU recently received a $5 million gift from The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation to increase the museum’s exhibition endowment and to help fund art installations for the next five years. The gift honors the founding director, Michael Rush, for his leadership in creating the explorative exhibitions and programming that already have made the museum a center for questioning and understanding the modern world.

 “Michael Rush is realizing the vision for Broad MSU, bringing contemporary artists from around the globe to East Lansing and drawing audiences from around the state, across the country and from all corners of the world,” says Eli Broad. “The exhibitions presented at the museum provide opportunities for students and the community to experience art that they might otherwise never see, while simultaneously drawing new visitors to East Lansing. Edythe and I are pleased to recognize Michael Rush’s leadership in creating this unique institution and we wanted to ensure that the museum continues to push boundaries in the types of exhibitions it presents.”

With this new gift, alumnus Eli Broad and his wife Edythe have invested a total of $33 million in Broad at MSU, in addition to significant gifts of art. The Broads were the catalyst for the museum, providing a $28 million lead gift for the design and construction of Broad MSU’s Zaha Hadid-designed building and establishing exhibition and operations endowments and a fund for acquisitions.

“Since its opening in November 2012, the Broad Museum at MSU already has had a transformational impact on Michigan State University, the East Lansing community and the region. This new endowment gift will ensure the museum can continue to advance its mission through engaging exhibitions,” says Lou Anna K. Simon, president of MSU. “We are grateful to Eli and Edythe Broad for their continued generosity and support of programs throughout our campus, and particularly for the museum.”

With a collection containing 7,500 objects from the Greek and Roman periods through the Renaissance and on to the Modern, Broad MSU is uniquely able to contextualize the wide range of contemporary art practices within a firm historical context. Many of the international artists featured are presenting their work for the first time at an American museum or creating new site-responsive commissions for their exhibitions. Of the 32 exhibitions presented thus far at the museum, works by artists from more than 30 countries have been featured.

“The exhibitions we develop at Broad MSU complement and add to Michigan State University’s globally focused mission, and we often work with artists in countries where MSU has already developed programs,” says Rush. “This new endowment gift will allow us to continue this type of programming well into the future and I am deeply honored that the Broads have given this gift in my name.”

For more information on making a gift to the museum, contact Assistant Director of Development Shalynn Sapotichne at sapotic1@msu.edu or call (517) 884-3914.

Constructing a Better Future

0
0

More Spartans will build the structures we live, work, recover, travel, vacation and play—thanks to an endowment for the Construction Management Program being created through the estate plans of  Steven and Kristine Black (both ’91, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources).

Motivated by MSU’s Construction Management Program that provided the foundation for Steve’s success in the industry, the Barrington, Illinois couple has seen the important role construction plays in driving the local, state and national economy.

“There is much at stake in a construction project beyond the dollars, there is the environment, people’s lives and livelihoods, relationships with all manner of entities from municipalities to contractors, to owners, to design and engineering firms and professionals, to suppliers and vendors.  It is a complex and challenging industry.” Steve says.

Steve and Kris met on campus and got married at the Alumni Chapel. Steve was a player on two Big Ten Championship football teams. He says the team experience at MSU translated directly into his career in construction—lots of hard work alongside people with different backgrounds and experiences, all working toward common goals.

“Education is a key ingredient to a successful life.  Learning how to learn’ is what education is truly about and MSU provided that for both of us. A degree is not the finish line. It represents a major milestone along the road of lifelong learning,” Steve says.

Kris’s passion for MSU started at an early age as her dad worked as an officer and detective at the MSU Police department.

“It is beautiful, the people are awesome, and I had no reason to look elsewhere. There is nothing more breathtaking than north-campus on a crisp fall day, especially football mornings—simply cannot be duplicated, anywhere!” Kris says.

Kris says her two passions are MSU and Mystic Lake YMCA Camp, where she was a staffer during high school and college summers, and currently serves on the alumni committee. 

“We are happy to support those things which hold importance and meaning for us,” Steve says. “I would say my MSU experience was the foundation of my adult life, which sounds a bit over the top to some when I look back. We’re both proud Spartans and are fortunate to be able to ‘pay it forward’ for future Spartans.”


$5 M gift helps talented students attain STEM goals

0
0

Michigan State University is launching a new program designed to help students who didn’t receive the pre-college math and science training they needed to pursue degrees and, ultimately, careers in science-related fields.

Called STEM Success, the endeavor is funded by a $5 million grant from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation.

“Employers and educators agree that preparing students to be leaders in science and technology is a priority. It’s an economic imperative to strengthen and expand STEM education for students in Michigan,” said Mike Whiting Jr., president of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation. “The foundation was made possible because of innovations in science and technology. We are proud to help launch a new program that will draw upon Michigan State’s leadership in STEM education and help more students prepare for careers in the essential STEM professions.”

The program is expected to annually accept about 300 newly enrolled MSU students interested in STEM-related careers, which include science, technology, engineering and math.

“We are grateful to the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation for its partnership and its endorsement of the considerable work already done at MSU around expanding opportunities in STEM-related disciplines,” said MSU Provost June Youatt. “We appreciate its investment in our work and our students, and we share optimism in what this can mean for the students, their communities and the state of Michigan.”

In preparation for learning opportunities in MSU’s undergraduate STEM colleges – engineering, natural science and Lyman Briggs – eligible students can enroll in two gateway courses designed to help them transition from high school to MSU entry-level courses

The Math Bridge Program will use a hybrid format with both on-campus and off-site classes, phone and video support, and online programming to reach enrolled students. A summer 2013 pilot program in the Detroit area resulted in a majority of students who completed the math course passing college algebra last fall.

A second course, Explorations in Chemistry, will focus on the structure and properties of matter, chemical and physical transformation, and energy and electrical interactions

Playing a major role in the program will be MSU’s Neighborhood Initiative, a new concept in on-campus living that brings together a variety of student services under one roof. MSU is divided into five neighborhoods, each providing advising, tutoring, health care, intercultural education, career planning and other services where students live.

The students will be clustered in two of the five neighborhoods to take advantage of concentrated professional and peer support and to foster communities of STEM scholars.

Support from the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation will fund neighborhood professional advisers and peer mentors to work with the STEM Success students.

Students also will have opportunities to interact with faculty and industry professionals. For example, MSU’s Midland Research Institute for Value Chain Creation will host the STEM Success students at its research facility and provide speakers to address the students in their neighborhood locations. Students also will have summer learning experiences; for instance, some will assist with research and shadow medical students at MSU’s medical campuses in Midland and elsewhere.

Half of the $5 million grant will fund the program in its first three years. The rest will go into an endowment fund, the proceeds of which will provide funding for peer mentors and for STEM Success students to participate in research.

Co-leaders of the project are SekharChivukula, MSU professor of physics and associate dean for faculty development in the College of Natural Science; Kristen Renn, associate dean of undergraduate studies; Elizabeth Simmons, dean of Lyman Briggs College; and Mark Urban-Lurain, associate professor, College of Engineering.

$1 million commitment endows MSU professorship

0
0

The future gift is being established through an estate plan from Dennis P. Nyquist of East Lansing, a former faculty member and graduate of the MSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“Both the college and ECE department were instrumental in my professional growth, so I am delighted to support MSU and advance electromagnetics with this gift,” Nyquist said. “As a retired faculty member, I appreciate the value and prestige that endowed positions bring by attracting and retaining top quality faculty members to the college.”

MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said the gift will help Michigan State step up its competitiveness and nourish its culture of high performance.

“Endowed chairs and professorships give our deans and leaders a powerful means of attracting the next generation of MSU faculty,” she said. “Our faculty are the essential resources in all that we do. We are grateful to Professor Nyquist not only for all his years of service that helped make MSU a top university today but also for his generous investment in MSU’s future.”

Endowed professorships and chair positions are the highest level of faculty distinction. The support from an endowment provides a dependable, perpetual source of funding to support the position, as well as the ability to conduct research and scholarship as new opportunities arise.

“As a distinguished faculty member, Dennis brought both vision and passion to his dedicated work for MSU and this college,” said Leo Kempel, dean of the MSU College of Engineering, who himself was mentored by Nyquist as a junior faculty member. “These kinds of endowed positions are crucial in recruiting and developing faculty members who can uphold Dennis’ profound legacy of professional contributions and the highest level of scholarship.”

Nyquist is an award-winning faculty member, who earned a Ph.D. from MSU in 1966 and served as a faculty member from 1966 to 2002. Among his many honors are the MSU Teacher-Scholar Award in 1969, and the University Distinguished Faculty Award in 1997.

The Nyquist Professorship in Electromagnetics is in conjunction with two other donations: The Lucille P. Nyquist Memorial Endowed Electrical Engineering Graduate Fellowship fund that honors his late mother, and the Dennis P. Nyquist Electromagnetic Research Discretionary Endowment Fund.

“Both the college and ECE department were instrumental in my professional growth, so I am delighted to support MSU and advance electromagnetics with this gift,” Nyquist said. “As a retired faculty member, I appreciate the value and prestige that endowed positions bring by attracting and retaining top quality faculty members to the college.”

The Nyquist Endowment will be managed by MSU’s Office of Investments and Financial Management. Endowments differ from other gifts in that the total amount is invested and a portion of the income will be available for spending each year, while the remainder will be reinvested to grow the fund and safeguard against inflation. MSU’s long-term investment returns have performed ahead of peer institutions. According to a 2013 National Association of College and University Business Officers study, the median college and university investment was 8 percent for the previous 10 years, while MSU’s was 8.6 percent.





Latest Images