Michigan State University
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

Excerpt from Boldness by Design, Strengthen Stewardship Focus Area #1 Environmental Stewardship Goal: Improve the sustainability of the Michigan State University campus by reducing inputs, improving the efficiency of processes, and optimizing outputs. Issue: Michigan State University is a large and complex community with an array of diverse inputs and interacting processes resulting in a variety of outputs. The environmental footprint of Michigan State University (MSU) is both local and global—from waste streams to local landfills to greenhouse gases that affect the global climate. The power plant, one important component of the university system, provides a clear example. The power plant processes coal (primary input) into steam and electricity (primary outputs), resulting in numerous secondary waste products (carbon dioxide, mercury, hydrochloric acid, etc.). Viewing the campus from a holistic or systems perspective, these inputs, processes, and outputs are managed by multiple operational units that report to different administrators. These operational units are, for the most part, separated from the academic domains of the university. This complexity is such that no single individual is or could be conversant with all aspects of these variables and processes. Consequently, without a systems design perspective, it is difficult to optimize operations to achieve a goal leading to campus sustainability or environmental stewardship (e.g., energy conservation, recycling, etc.). Optimization of operations across these variables and processes to achieve a complex goal, such as campus sustainability, is extraordinarily challenging under current administrative structures and approaches. Approach: The principles of systems science and engineering will be used to identify, quantify, and categorize MSU’s campus components as a hierarchical system of inputs, flows, processes, and outputs. The aim is to simultaneously reduce the university’s environmental footprint and increase the efficiency of its materials and energy usage. In turn, this form of stewardship will also reduce costs, demonstrating how environmental stewardship and fiscal responsibility can be achieved simultaneously.

Enrich community, economic, and family life through research, outreach, engagement, entrepreneurship, innovation, diversity, and inclusion Focus Areas * Outreach and communication * Economic development Key Strategies * Develop sustained and aggressive programs to maximize MSU’s intellectual property estate, identify opportunities for commercialization leading to a diverse portfolio, and support start-ups derived from MSU faculty discoveries * Enhance communication about faculty research that supports diverse communities, underserved communities, and communities that can be strengthened by the work of MSU public policy researchers * Expand regional cultural economic development programs to include all areas of the state that promote arts and culture as part of their economic growth strategy * Expand involvement in community and economic development partnerships to all urban areas of the state * Create and test new biobased technologies, processes, and products * Improve communication of public policy work and events * Promote and reward community engagement of faculty and students * Expand support for outreach and engaged research * Continue to build a campuswide network among precollege programs in order to enhance efficiency and maximize outcomes * Increase access for Michigan’s children to early childhood emergent literacy programs developed by MSU faculty and community partners * Expand family-related research and outreach

Enrich community, economic, and family life through research, outreach, engagement, entrepreneurship, innovation, diversity, and inclusion Focus Areas * Outreach and communication * Economic development Key Strategies * Develop sustained and aggressive programs to maximize MSU’s intellectual property estate, identify opportunities for commercialization leading to a diverse portfolio, and support start-ups derived from MSU faculty discoveries * Enhance communication about faculty research that supports diverse communities, underserved communities, and communities that can be strengthened by the work of MSU public policy researchers * Expand regional cultural economic development programs to include all areas of the state that promote arts and culture as part of their economic growth strategy * Expand involvement in community and economic development partnerships to all urban areas of the state * Create and test new biobased technologies, processes, and products * Improve communication of public policy work and events * Promote and reward community engagement of faculty and students * Expand support for outreach and engaged research * Continue to build a campus-wide network among precollege programs in order to enhance efficiency and maximize outcomes * Increase access for Michigan’s children to early childhood emergent literacy programs developed by MSU faculty and community partners * Expand family-related research and outreach

Please note that the social and economic areas are combined into one section of the Boldness by Design Strategic Positioning plan.