“Spartans care deeply” about stewarding resources and a sustainable MSU campus

MSU Today with Russ White

MSU's Strategic Plan 2030 identifies goals within six key themes: student success, staff and faculty success, discovery; creativity, and innovation for excellence and global impact; sustainable health; stewardship and sustainability; and diverse, equity, and inclusion.

On this edition of MSU Today, we'll be focusing on the stewardship and sustainability theme of the plan with its executive sponsors: Executive Vice President for Administration and Chief Information Officer Melissa Woo and Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Lisa Frace.

Michigan State University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D. says Spartans care deeply about Planet Earth and about MSU's financial sustainability.

“Stewardship and Sustainability is the fifth pillar of the strategic plan and one of the most important,” says Stanley. “Our students, faculty, and staff care deeply about the planet and climate change. This is incredibly important to them, and the concept of sustainability and being stewards of our environment and our financial situation here at MSU is important to everyone on the campus. We're a leader in this area. We're among the top-ranked college campuses in what we're doing, and the goal of the strategic plan is to continue that leadership and put us in the forefront of people who are making a difference in this area.

“We've already been making changes in our financial stewardship. Our financial situation has improved significantly over the past couple years. Despite COVID, we've been able to improve our balance sheets, and we're going to continue to work to make sure that our budget is aligned with our strategic goals to make sure that we're using the dollars we have at MSU in a way that furthers the strategic goals and the strategic plan and makes a difference.”

Michigan State is working toward climate neutrality by mid-century. Why is it critical MSU take this step, and what are some of our key action plans?

“It's just one of the pieces of a total holistic institutional sustainability and climate action plan, which is going to be based on a four-pillar framework focused on four C's: campus, curriculum, community, and culture,” says Woo.

“As we continue to move forward in meeting energy goals and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we'll also be looking at taking systemic, sustainable actions and adopting a culture that enables the institution to reach those goals. Some of the other things that we're working on will be to foster resource stewardship through application of leadership and environmental design. We’re organically managing land and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing sustainable source purchases, increasing campus-grown and locally sourced food, and reducing the transportation carbon footprint.

“Another place we're really focusing on is expanding sustainability teaching and learning opportunities through formal courses and co-curricular activities. And of course, we can't forget research. We also want to expand sustainability research and innovation through inter- and intra-institutional partnerships to address climate solutions. And finally, because we also can't forget outreach, we want to make sure we enhance sustainability outreach and engagement by expanding volunteer opportunities for our faculty, staff, and students in support of local, state, regional, national, and global partnerships.”

“Sustainability also refers to a sustainable model for financial and other types of resources. We are looking at transforming the university's budgeting process as part of that,” adds Frace.

Are there some other plans for us to be a greener campus?

“We want to achieve platinum ranking in what's known as the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System, STARS for short, by 2030 if we can,” continues Woo. “We also really want to achieve the Top 100 Times Higher Education global impact ranking by 2030.

“Another thing we're looking at is reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent from our 2010 baseline. And ultimately, we want to ensure that faculty, staff, and students can live, work, and learn in buildings and spaces that promote health and wellness, have access to proximal green space, and enjoy pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly design.”

Sustainability also refers to sustainability of financial and other types of resources. MSU will be adapting a new long-term, comprehensive financial model and budget process to align with and support strategic priorities. Can you talk about this model and the process to develop it and the timeline?

“When we talk about the university budget process, the first thing we'll start to do is to develop an all-funds budget approach to provide a holistic financial management framework that will allow us to better address strategic priorities,” Frace says. “We're laying the groundwork this year through developing budget and forecasting systems so that we have the tools and processes in place to be able to support a change in budget model and allow all units to be successful when we get to that.

“Once we have developed those tools, we will engage the campus in a comprehensive redesign, but that won't likely be for at least another 18 months because we really do need to develop the systems, tools, processes, and reports to enable that success. And it's going to be critically important that we take the time to get it right so that we understand and can address any unintended consequences before we launch into a new model.

“We have proposed and sold century bonds that are repayable in 100 years. And those proceeds from those bonds will help us to create a revolving fund that will allow us to invest in perpetuity in projects that support the strategic plan, and that's critically important. It creates a stewardship tool for not only this generation but for generations to come.”

The university master plan is referenced in this section of the strategic plan. I understand that planning work has begun and that it has an emphasis on embedding priorities like diversity, equity, and inclusion; faculty, staff, and student success; and sustainable health in the physical and space planning. Talk about how that's done and how it will strengthen outcomes at MSU. What's the goal of the plan?

“This is really exciting,” Woo says. “In the past, this has been known as the Land Use Master Plan, which only focused on the East Lansing campus. However, we have so many activities all over the state. We have great things happening in Flint and Detroit and Grand Rapids and a presence in every county in the state because of MSU Extension. How this plan differs from the old land use master plans is it really looks at all 26,000 acres of land that we hold and the facilities on them. The way we're going through this is that we're really looking at a comprehensive and strategic framework for guiding future decisions regarding land use, which is why we want to be all inclusive. It should support the institution's three mutually reinforcing strategic plans and the academic strategic plan implementation.

“Our goal is to complete this plan by the end of 2022, and we are going to be incorporating multiple perspectives into the planning process, including consideration of the history of the land MSU occupies, tribal consultation around archeological sites, and environmental impact reviews. We want to have a very broad group of stakeholders, including our su...