HONORS COLLEGE 2022-2023
YEAR END REPORT
A S PART AN OF HONOR
A
note
from
Christopher P. Long Dean, MSU Honors College
Dear Friends:
I am filled with joy for our students’ accomplishments, the direction of the Honors College, and the support of alumni and friends like you. It is a pleasure to share some good news and exciting developments with you.
Honors College Living-Learning Community: Campbell Hall
As the Honors College – home to roughly 4,500 students and 12 student organizations – has continued to expand, we have outgrown our single-building space. Beautiful and historic Campbell Hall will soon become our first-ever dedicated residential living-learning community.
The Campbell Hall renovation project will provide new spaces for collaborative study, music practice, student club events, advisor o ces, and two large community spaces. It will also serve as a residence hall for nearly 300 honors students. MSU is poised to make the most significant investment in honors education in its history, elevating opportunities for students to engage in transformational community-engaged scholarship at one of the top research universities in the world.
I encourage you to visit honorscollege.msu.edu/campbell-hall to learn more about this initiative and to find out how you can help.
Research and Engaged Learning
The Honors College has been a leader in o ering research experiences for academically talented students in every discipline. Nearly 70% of honors graduates report participating in faculty-led undergraduate research. Research programs, especially for Honors College students, include paid assistantships as well as research and independent study classes for credit. Research opportunities are available in every major and much of the research we support crosses multiple disciplines.
Studies indicate that undergraduate research participation is an overwhelmingly positive predictor of five outcomes – gains in knowledge and skills, institutional support, overall satisfaction, grade point average, and student/faculty interaction.
Research connects undergraduate students with faculty mentors who are leading innovation within and across their respective fields, incubates faculty projects, fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and o ers students a platform to publish and present at regional or national conferences. The Honors College at MSU is fast becoming the leading Honors College in the country for undergraduate student research, and the addition of a newly renovated Campbell Hall will further elevate our reputation of research excellence.
Distinguished Student Awards
The Distinguished Student Awards O ce, administered by the Honors College, is dedicated to supporting undergraduate and graduate students pursuing prestigious external awards. In 2023 we celebrated our 6th Mitchell Scholar, 13th Udall Scholar, 18th Churchill Scholar – the only second-generation Churchill Scholar ever – our 53rd Goldwater Scholar, and 5 national finalists.
For 2022-2023, MSU was the top producer of Churchill Scholars for Association of American Universities public four-year institutions (tied with UNC-Chapel Hill) and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The university was the second highest producer of Mitchell Scholars in the same categories.
Our Deepest Gratitude
We could not do this important work without your ongoing support. I am heartened by your goodwill and generosity in helping us make an Honors College education possible for so many of our outstanding students. I am grateful too for your support of our e orts to give students transformative research experiences that allow them to establish meaningful relationships with our world-class faculty. I will continue to keep you updated, and encourage you to share with me your comments, questions, and concerns.
Sincerely,
Christopher P. Long MSU Research Foundation Professor Dean, MSU Honors College Dean, College of Arts & Letters
Campbell Hall:
A Residential Living-Learning Community
Living-learning communities foster a greater sense of belonging for college students that result in new ways of thinking, a heightened sense of responsibility to the community, and a commitment to service and leadership. Providing a combination of study lounges, collaboration spaces, larger community venues, and a dedicated classroom, Campbell Hall will serve as the vibrant center of Honors College life.
We envision this as the environment where honors students can be challenged, supported, and inspired in creating a more just and beautiful world.
Approximately 4,500 students call the Honors College home, and when it reopens, Campbell Hall will serve as the hub for a diverse community of scholars dedicated to academic excellence, transformative research, and meaningful community engagement. O ering dedicated space in public areas on the ground and first floors of the building, this combination of study lounges, collaboration spaces, larger community venues, and a dedicated classroom will support students academically, socially, and emotionally.
"The proposed living-learning hall for the Honors College is not just a building," said fourth-year honors student Tanushree Thapar, who came from India to study at MSU. "It's a commitment to nurturing an environment where academic interests and multicultural interactions interweave, fostering a home away from home for students like me."
On the university’s historic north end, Campbell Hall is one of the first things a visitor sees when entering campus from the Abbott Entrance. Built in 1939, the hall was partially funded by Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. After the renovation is complete, it will house almost 300 honors students, while providing gathering and programming space for the entire Honors College community. This is the Honors College’s biggest and boldest expansion project yet.
Thank you Tom Schupbach & Kathy Songer, Lanette & Scott VanWagenen, Molly Brennen & Bill Devlin, Barb Stone Reetz & Gary Reetz, Andrew & Carolyn Bratzel, and Bess German for your early commitments to funding this project.
CAMPBELL HALL AS A MAGNET TO ATTRACT the BEST AND BRIGHTEST STUDENTS
“Our recent opportunity to meet several current MSU Honors College students confirmed for us why supporting the College in securing a space to call their own is so critical. These students were remarkable on many levels; poise, confidence, intelligence, dedication and overall humanity. To think that in some small way our gift helps their success through college and beyond is exciting. MSU deserves to attract the best and the brightest! We see the Honors College’s Campbell Hall as a magnet to achieve this goal."
–Lanette & Scott VanWagenen
Investing in success
“This initiative aligns with my values of investing in education, and in people, and creating spaces that inspire growth and camaraderie. MSU and the Honors College invested in me as a student, and I am thrilled at being able to invest back in the Honors College and the many students it inspires and supports daily, through its transformative opportunities.”
–Molly Brennan
USING A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO HONOR A FAMILY LEGACY
“Could there be a more inspiring location than a signature building so strategically located next to East Lansing and the Student Union? And what an opportunity for all the Honors College alumni to participate in this e ort to transform Campbell Hall into this living-learning community. Our family has committed to naming three spaces in Campbell Hall. We could not be happier to participate and honor a family member. Legacy possibilities such as this are rare. The space features outstanding architecture, 1930s interior design elements, and an invitation to be a small part of the Honors College plans to transform generations of students.”
–Tom Schupbach
Research Excellence:
Honors students showcase their work
Hundreds of students gathered at Breslin Center in April for the 25th Annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum. Many Honors College students participated in the event and presented their findings.
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-Biotechnology student Megha Suresh explained how di erent lengths of the C-binding protein on a fly’s wing can a ect their processes. Her research hopes to eventually aid in targeting a genome mutant found in human cancers. “I love working with genes and gene regulation,” Suresh said.
Human Biology students Medha Manepalli and Ryan Hertz explored how children experience encouragement of physical activity from face-to-face interaction with parents vs. non-face-to-face interaction. Their research was inspired by high obesity rates in America and found the long-term e ects of face-to-face interactions are more beneficial for nutrition and maintaining an active lifestyle.
“Analyzing the di erences between face-to-face and non-face-to-face is especially prevalent in the post-COVID-19 world,” Hertz said. “The motivation to be in-person has been significantly lower.”
Meet the Swansons: Alumni Dedicate Endowment to Support Summer Programs
Kim and Judith Swanson met at Michigan State University in the summer of 1963, where both were participating in the summer orientation program. They recently created the Swanson’s Honors
College Summer Programs Fund, which supports payroll costs for student employed by Honors College summer programs. Through their generosity, the Swansons are bolstering programs
that create a lasting impact on students’ educational journeys. Their influence will be felt for generations to come.
Read the full story here: tinyurl.com/the-swansons
Lucky number 13: Roxy Sprowl is an Udall SCholar
After the acts of violence on campus in February 2023, Roxy Sprowl immediately sprang into action, calling in the greater Lansing community to donate care package items for Native MSU students. Her selfless leadership is one of many reasons she was named MSU’s 13th Udall Scholar.
Read the full story here: tinyurl.com/udall-scholar
Students present research at international nuclear physics conference
An Honors College education can really take you places. For second-year students Landon Buskirk and Andrew Yeomans-Stephenson, it took them all the way to the joint meeting of the American Physical Society Division of Nuclear Physics and the Physical Society of Japan.
Read the full story here: tinyurl.com/nuclear-physics
From Lansing to Detroit: The MSU Early Honors Experience
With partners in the Detroit Public Schools community district, the Honors College piloted the MSU Detroit Early Honors Experience to help 8th and 9th grade students build college readiness at an early age. The 2024 event is expanding to a four-day program with funding by Larry and Nadine Walker.
Learn more here: tinyurl.com/hc-detroit
HC IMPACT is a pre-matriculation service week and connected first-year seminar that has resulted in 9,000+ hours of community work in the Lansing area.
The DSOA, administered by the Honors College, supports undergraduate and graduate students pursuing prestigious external awards.
Advanced mathematics student Samuel Sottile became MSU’s 18th Churchill Scholar, and the only second-generation recipient in the award’s history. His father, Frank Sottile, was an MSU Churchill Scholar in 1985.
Read the full story here: tinyurl.com/churchill-scholar
HONORS COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
Tonya Frisbey, Director of Development frisbey2@msu.edu 517-884-7591
Kathryn Reed, Assistant Director kreed@msu.edu 517-884-7582
@honorscollegemsu
