Michigan State University

Michigan State University (MSU) was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the US. Its original curriculum elevated the study of the natural sciences over the Classical languages and humanities, which was quite unusual at the time.

The state reorganized the curriculum just six years later, in 1861, restoring a more traditional balance between the sciences and the humanities. At this time, the school’s name was changed to State Agricultural College.

The following year, in 1862, the first of the Morrill Land-Grant Acts was passed by the US Congress under the leadership of President Lincoln. These Acts were intended to encourage the development of publicly supported institutions of higher learning throughout the US.

Michigan’s State Agricultural College was mentioned by the first Morrill Act as a model for the other states to emulate. In addition, the Act established a new system of public financing—the “land-grant” system—under which the states obtained the right to sell off certain federal lands for the purpose of setting up publicly supported colleges.

In 1863, following the passage of the Morrill Act, the agricultural college was designated Michigan’s official land-grant college; as such, women students were permitted to attend classes and the school’s curriculum was further expanded.

By 1925, the agricultural college’s curriculum had expanded so much that its name was changed to the Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science. The institution continued to rapidly evolve, and finally in 1964 its name was changed to its present form.

Today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the US, with a student body numbering nearly 50,000.

MSU is associated with three Nobel laureates, namely,

• Physicist, Albert Fert
• Chemist, Robert Grubbs
• Bacteriologist, Alfred Hershey, for physiology or medicine

Other prominent MSU connected individuals include the following:

• Poet, Carolyn Forché
• Novelists, Richard Ford, Jim Harrison & Thomas McGuane
• Film directors, Michael Cimino & Sam Raimi
• Actors, James Caan, Robert Ulrich, Tom Sizemore & Anthony Heald
• Popular singer and songwriter, Paul Stookey
• Rapper, Tee Grizzley
• “Muckraking” journalist, Ray Stannard Baker
• Intellectual historian and political theorist, Russell Kirk
• Physicist and optical fiber pioneer, Donald Keck
• Paleontologist, Robert L. Carroll
• Existential psychologist, Rollo May
• Social psychologist, Daniel Wegner
• Laser-printer inventor, Gary Starkweather
• Journalist and essayist, Susan Jacoby
• Former International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President, James P. Hoffa
• Current US Senator, Debbie Stabenow
• Current Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer