Running head: Michigan State University’s Technical Core 1

Michigan State University’s Technical Core

July 24, 2018

Deirdre Musser

Concordia University Ann Arbor

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Michigan State University (MSU) was founded in 1855 and its Board of Trustees

approved the following mission statement in 2008 and it can be found on the Office of the

President’s webpage:

“Michigan State University, a member of the Association of American Universities and one
of the top 100 research universities in the world, was founded in 1855. We are an inclusive,
academic community known for our traditionally strong academic disciplines and
professional programs, and our liberal arts foundation. Our cross- and interdisciplinary
enterprises connect the sciences, humanities, and professions in practical, sustainable, and
innovative ways to address society’s rapidly changing needs.

As a public, research-intensive, land-grant university funded in part by the state of

Michigan, our mission is to advance knowledge and transform lives by:

 providing outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and professional education to promising,

qualified students in order to prepare them to contribute fully to society as globally
engaged citizen leaders
 conducting research of the highest caliber that seeks to answer questions and
create solutions in order to expand human understanding and make a positive difference,
both locally and globally
 advancing outreach, engagement, and economic development activities
that are innovative, research-driven, and lead to a better quality of life for individuals
and communities, at home and around the world”
When analyzing the mission statement of MSU it is made clear that the center of their technical

core is dedicated to research. However, when looking at the university’s history there is one

other element that has been a large part of the university throughout time. As most who are

familiar with MSU may know, the university is a land-grant institution which connected the

institution to teaching subjects surrounded around agriculture (“MSU Timeline,” n.d.). Based

upon the rich history of agriculture within the university I would argue that the center of the

technical core is not only research but also agriculture.

When I attended MSU for four years to complete my undergraduate degree I always

knew that agriculture was a part of the university’s history but have never taken a step back and
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evaluated the obvious indicators across campus. There are several symbols and facilities within

MSU’s organizational environment structures that point to the element of agriculture in MSU’s

technical core. First and foremost is the amount of land that is dedicated to agriculture

throughout the state of Michigan that is owned by MSU. The main campus is about 5,200 acres

and approximately 19,600 additional acres across the state are used for teaching and research

within agriculture and natural resources (“MSU Facts,” n.d.). This is a huge indicator of the

importance and existence of agriculture at the institution. The main campus houses all of the

other degree and major programs for the entire university but 19,600 acres have specifically been

purchased for the use of researching and teaching agriculture.

As time has progressed, the university has also gone through a few institutional name

changes since it’s founding in 1855. The founding name was “Agricultural College of the State

of Michigan” and up until 1964 the word agriculture was always within the name of the

university (“MSU Facts,” n.d.). In 1909 the university changed its name to “Michigan

Agricultural College” and today there is a road in East Lansing, MI across the street from

campus that is named M.A.C Avenue (“MSU Facts,” n.d.). In 1912 the university began work in

Extension Programs throughout the state of Michigan and according to the 2016-2017

Legislative Report (2017), 149,000 adults and 212,000 youth participated in and MSU Extension

Programs. From my own understanding, the MSU Extension has various types of programs,

events, and facilities that are dedicated to teach communities outside of East Lansing about

agriculture and the issues surrounding natural resources. The number of participants above is a

testament to the level of buy-in that adults and children have to the research that MSU does to

help grow the agriculture industry.

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All of the above information provides an extremely strong case to state that agriculture is

one of the main reasons why MSU was founded and why the university still exists. The

investment into 19,600 acres is not inexpensive and points towards the legitimacy of the College

of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The college is only one small indicator of the impact that

agriculture has on MSU in general but as I listed above there is an enormous amount of support

throughout the community, the state, the nation, and beyond. I do not believe that marginality

applies to agriculture in terms of MSU’s technical core, as it lies in the center of the core and has

a relationship of marginality to other units within the core. On the other hand, it is interesting to

note that in MSU’s most recently approved mission statement there is not a specific mention of

agriculture. This may be because agriculture is already heavily engrained in the history of the

university that it does not need to be stated but it is known.

Research is a unit of MSU’s technical core that is blatantly mentioned in the university’s

mission statement. This very fact is one obvious reason why research is sharing space with

agriculture at the center of its technical core. Most recently, MSU built a new facility near the

middle of campus that was funded by MSU, the state of Michigan, and the U.S. Department of

Energy Office of Science called the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams or FRIB (“FRIB,” n.d.).

This facility cost $730 million and will be used to conduct research about rare isotopes and better

understand their properties (“FRIB,” n.d.). FRIB is a facility that will build upon the research

and expertise gained from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory that is also near

the middle of campus (“FRIB,” n.d.).

Research and agriculture cross paths frequently throughout the university and specifically

through MSU AgBioResearch. There are more than 300 scientists with grants exceeding $60.2

million across seven colleges at Michigan State University and the work is done both on-campus
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and in 13 different centers across the state of Michigan (“Planning & Budgets,” n.d.). The types

of research conducted have ranged from biofuel production, food safety, community

development, agriculture production and many others (“Planning & Budgets,” n.d.). Michigan

State University has extended well beyond its surrounding community and has made an impact

with research throughout the nation with recognition as one among the top ten research

institutions and a member of the Association of American Universities (“Planning & Budgets,”

n.d.).

Research is a part of the center of MSU’s technical core because it is a part of the mission

of the university and is stated to the public that research is a major reason for the institutions

existence. This fact is significant when talking about the technical core as a mission statement is

what the whole organization is invested in and it is what every college or school within the

university creates their own mission statements off of. However, to the surrounding community,

the mission statement may not mean a lot but the amount of money and the facilities that have

been put towards research initiatives is exceptionally recognizable. The significance of these

facilities being near the middle of campus may not be something that means much to faculty,

staff, or students but it is significant when looking at the reason for the universities existence.

Research alone is a distinguished member of MSU’s technical core but of course it is shared with

agriculture. This can be seen through AgBioReasearch at MSU which is combination of both

agriculture and research. Dedication to research within agriculture spans across seven colleges,

as stated previously, within the institution and demonstrates the strong connection to its history

and why it continues to exist in today’s modern society.

The Eli Broad College of Business is not at the center of MSU’s technical core but has a

high level of legitimacy and is marginally near the center of the core. The first reason for the
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college’s legitimacy is their enrollment and graduation numbers. In Spring 2018 the university

reported having a total of 47,955 students with 7,737 of those students within the Eli Broad

College of Business (“MSU RO: Enrollment and Tern End Reports,” n.d.). These nearly 8,000

students account for about 16% of the total student population with the College of Agriculture

and Natural Resources accounting for about 8.5% (“MSU RD: Enrollment and Term End

Reports,” n.d.). On the other end of the spectrum the Eli Broad College of Business also has a

high level of legitimacy when it comes to the amount of degrees conferred. In the 2017-2018

school year the college conferred a total of 2,221 degrees (“MSU RO: Enrollment and Tern End

Reports,” n.d.).

Other than the enrollment and graduation data the Eli Broad College of Business holds a

large amount of power through their facilities and the investment in them. Currently, the college

is in the process of building a new facility next to their older academic structures. The Broad

Business Pavilion is a 100,000 square foot academic facility that will provide the college with

cutting edge classrooms, collaborative meeting spaces, and high end technology (“The Business

Pavilion,” n.d.). The addition of such a large and modern facility to the college demonstrates the

legitimacy and power that the school has within the university. This legitimacy and power

certainly comes from the numbers that the college draws into the university and the number of

graduates it produces. Not only is the college’s success known within the MSU community but

also throughout the nation as the U.S. News and World Report ranked Broad’s Supply Chain

Management Graduate Program number one in the nation (“MSU SCM Ranked No.1 For

Graduate and Undergraduate Programs,” n.d.).

The Eli Broad College of Business is not a part of the university’s early history or the

mission statement but has become an integral part of the technical core by creeping closer to the
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center. The obvious reasons point to the high numbers of students and the benefits that brings to

the university as a whole and the not so obvious reasons lie within the college’s location on the

campus. As the college grows and utilizes it’s newly built resource, their influence on the

university will become more prevalent across more departments and community organizations.

In the future the college may have further legitimate power and could become deeply involved in

the elements already present in the center of the university’s core.

Besides agriculture, research, and business, MSU has a plethora of degree/major

programs. The university’s technical core includes the following units or colleges: Agriculture

and Natural Resources, Arts and Letters, Communication Arts and Sciences, Education, Eli

Broad College of Business and Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Engineering,

Graduate School, Honors College, Human Medicine, International Studies and Programs, James

Madison College, Law, Lyman Briggs College, Music, Natural Science, Nursing, Osteopathic

Medicine, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities, Social Science, Undergraduate

Education, Veterinary Medicine (“College and Academic Websites,” n.d.). As listed above

MSU’s technical core has many other elements that contribute their existence. Even though the

university exists for the purposes of research and is embedded in a history of agriculture they

needed to find other opportunities to cater to all students interests. However, still to this day the

university is operating at an efficient and effective level because of the amount of resources it

puts towards research and the number of research outputs it creates. Conversely, the university

has a lower level of effectiveness and efficiency when evaluating outputs related to agriculture.

As stated previously, the Eli Broad School of Business has a higher number of inputs and outputs

than the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Even though this is clearly shown in the
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numbers, agriculture has a stronger presence in terms of facilities, land, and structures which

helps to raise the overall effectiveness and efficiency for the university.

Many aspects of MSU’s technical core both at the center and beyond are widely known

through communication via websites, news articles, community events, and national rankings to

name a few. However, when taking a look at faculty which are an integral part of the technical

core, data and information is not as easily accessible. As a public institution the university is

required to report the salaries or income of all faculty and staff which offers a small amount of

information. On the other hand, data regarding how many faculty are dedicated to each college

or how many research findings a faculty member has published is not put together in reports but

rather casually mentioned on the individual college webpages. This is surprising as faculty are

key to the technical core as the main information deliverers to students throughout their college

careers.

From my personal perspective I have drawn a couple of conclusions based upon my

evaluation of MSU’s technical core and the research I presented supporting the core elements.

My first observation is the connection between an institutions existence, it’s history, and mission

statement. During my time as a full-time staff member at Concordia University Ann Arbor the

mission and purpose has always been engrained in every aspect of day to day operations. With

the many students, faculty, and staff at the university surely not everyone has the same values or

beliefs. With individuals having their own goals or purposes in mind it can be very easy to get

away from the institutional mission and start to reform the purpose of the university. To keep this

from happening all things within the institution need to be done in light of and for the mission. I

have realized this because of the constant reminders at Concordia University of the mission and

what we exist for. When looking at the big picture and stepping back I have recognized how
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much of an impact these reminders can have on keeping the mission and the why the university

exists at the forefront of all interactions. Often time institutions can get distracted by

implementing programs that will attract the most students which is important to be aware of, but

can pull the institution away from why it really exists. I have found that keeping the mission in

mind is vitally important to my work and my relationships with students and others across

campus. By keeping the reason for existence and the elements of the technical core in mind an

institution can become more effective and efficient.

As an educational leader the ideology attached at the institutional level with keeping the

mission in mind is directly transferrable to students themselves. A student attends an institution

to gain education and training in an area that is a part of their personal core and mission. The task

of finding what their core is can be daunting and the process is not clear. However, if we adapt

the technical core model to a student’s process of finding their own purpose for existence it may

avoid certain road blocks that students run into. We as educational leaders can assist students in

learning to discover what their own core elements are comprised of and take action to ensure

those are kept in mind throughout their college careers.

In conclusion, it is vitally important to always understand what is at an institutions core.

The elements within can answer many questions and guide faculty and staff in the right direction

through their work. Understanding the technical core and how each of the elements affects the

institution can help to grow and change the institution in a way that is distinctly their own. In

today’s society this is a must as students want to be at an institution that is true to its original self

as the student it trying to do that very thing for themselves.

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References

Cummins, T., Curley, M., Dau, J., Hudson, C., Rudolph, C., Stuever, B., . . . Wilson, J. (2017).

2016-2017 Legislative Report (pp. 1-32, Rep. No. E-3361) (P. Adams & M. Reiter, Eds.).

East Lansing, MI: MSU. Retrieved July 19, 2018, from

http://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/2017 legislative report web.pdf

Michigan State University. (n.d.). College and Academic Websites. Retrieved from

https://msu.edu/academics/colleges.html#accordions=

Michigan State University. (n.d.). Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State

University. Retrieved from https://frib.msu.edu/about/index.html

Michigan State University. (n.d.). MSU Facts. Retrieved from

https://msu.edu/about/thisismsu/facts.html

Michigan State University. (n.d.). MSU Timeline. Retrieved from

https://msu.edu/about/thisismsu/thenandnow.html

MSU RO: Enrollment and Term End Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/ReportView.aspx?Report=UE-TotalStudents

MSU RO: Enrollment and Term End Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://reg.msu.edu/ROInfo/ReportView.aspx?Report=UFY-TrendDegreesConf

MSU SCM Ranked No. 1 for Graduate and Undergraduate Programs. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://supplychain.broad.msu.edu/2017/03/15/msu-scm-ranked-no-1-graduate-

undergraduate-programs/

Planning & Budgets. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://opb.msu.edu/stewardship/advance.html

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The Business Pavilion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://giving.broad.msu.edu/business-college-

pavilion/