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Friday, September 04, 2009

Fall Welcome, 2009

Fall Welcome marks the start of a significant transition for members of the MSU community. Faculty, students, and staff alike experience the sense of renewal that has come to characterize not only the start of each academic year, but the nature of the University itself. For first-year students, that sense of new beginnings is especially strong and filled with great promise.

The first year of college introduces students to a new level of rigor and academic expectations. This year, the transition for first-year students began with a new Academic Orientation Program. Changes to AOP reflect some of the larger modifications made to the entire first-year experience at MSU. Collectively, these adjustments will lead to a more coherent transition for all students to MSU, and reflect an expanded level of cooperation across the campus. While AOP represents the initial step of the transition process, Fall Welcome represents yet another opportunity to address the transitional needs of students as they embark upon the college experience.

As part of this year’s Fall Welcome, new undergraduate students took part in the University-wide service and civic engagement Fill-the-Bus event, and students were encouraged to donate school supplies, non-perishable food, or personal care items for 13 campus and community partnering organizations. Fill-the-Bus provided a hands-on introduction to MSU’s commitment to Spartans giving of themselves, to others, in the community, for the public good.

Since its founding in 1855, MSU has been dedicated to giving back to the community. Throughout the building of that legacy of service and engagement, our collective character has come to be defined more by self-satisfaction than by arrogance. For over 150 years, our students, faculty, and staff have constantly raised the bar, both for themselves and for others, making MSU the great University that it is today.

Many of you have heard me say before that at its core, a university is its people – not its buildings, its campus, or its programs, but its people. As we begin this academic year, I ask you all to think of MSU – and your role at MSU – in that way. You are MSU. What you do here defines who we are, and who we will become. As with the start of every fall semester, we are pleased to welcome your individual energies as part of our collective effort.