The priorities and initiatives of the Office of the Provost are guided by its mission and fundamental values. While the mission and values that guide the Office of the Provost remain steadfast, unique priorities and initiatives emerge each academic year.
The priorities and initiatives listed below guide much of the work of the Office of the Provost as it not only maintains, but fosters, MSU’s commitments to academic excellence and student success.
Enable the best structure, function, talent, and relationships to support the achievement of Office of the Provost goals and commitments.
Lead efforts to create a “prospects to alumni” enrollment and student success strategy focused on aligning university stakeholders on inclusive and equitable goals for recruiting, admissions, success, and student experience.
Elevate and enhance MSU’s national and global reputation by framing MSU’s academic values, research accomplishments, and pedagogical strategies – and by promoting faculty diversity, quality, and success.
Develop strategies that produce short-term fiscal stability for the institution while building and shaping the institution of our collective future.
Work on academic strategic planning implementation has begun, in support of aligning academic planning and implementation efforts, both university-wide and locally, with MSU’s recently announced Strategic Plan 2030 – Empowering Excellence, Advancing Equity, Expanding Impact and its broader institutional goals. Dr. Dave Weatherspoon, vice provost of enrollment and academic strategic planning, is leading academic strategic planning and implementation initiatives.
Advance MSU’s academic outreach across Michigan, nationally, and internationally, incorporating existing and emerging efforts. As the University anticipates cross-institutional priorities from its Strategic Planning Process to be announced shortly, the Office of the Provost stands ready to align academic efforts in support of broader institutional goals.
Support equity and inclusion and mitigate the systemic factors that create inequities in academic workplaces is the goal of MSU ADVANCE. The program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and contributes to the Foundation’s goal of promoting a diverse and capable science and engineering workforce within higher education.
Build a campus community that is adaptable, inclusive, collaborative, globally minded and transformative by weaving the arts into MSU’s missions. Arts MSU is guided by the belief that the arts are essential to this pursuit and will lead to innovative practices of discovering, connecting, exploring and remembering.
MSU recently established the 1855 Professorships as a reimagining of the university’s foundational land-grant mission. The nineteenth-century land-grant vision of higher education inspired universities to both elevate the pursuit of practical knowledge and widen educational access to include working-class students. Now, the first cohort of cross-disciplinary 1855 Professors at MSU will engage in critical public outreach in the areas of minority politics, urban journalism, and the intersections of law and democracy.
The Provost’s Spiral of Collective Excellence Award recognizes a group or team within a college or MAU for their collective contributions and excellence that advance academic excellence and student success.
The dean or leader of an MAU may nominate a group or team by explaining the nature of its collective excellence in relation to the objectives of the unit’s strategic plan. Examples of collective excellence may be in one or more the following areas: advising, teaching, research, outreach and engagement, service, DEI, or other areas of importance to the unit, but are not limited to these areas. Each MAU may put forth one nomination per year.
Honorifics
The faculty of Michigan State University possess great underlying strengths which are recognized at every level –internationally and nationally, locally and internally. Such honorifics elevate the stature of the university’s intellectual work to national and global prominence and foster a community of scholars with high standards and aspirations. These awards recognize the outstanding accomplishments, achievements, and contributions of our exceptional researchers, educators, and community members and bring great pride to the institution.
Academic Resources
Support for faculty and student success.
