Key Initiatives
1855 Professorships
Established as a reimagining of the land-grant vision of elevating the pursuit of practical knowledge and broadening educational access, 1855 Professorships support inclusive excellence at MSU with scholarship and public engagement. A competitive review process consisting of 76 high-quality proposals from across the university, with every college participating, led to 13 transformational proposals selected to advance MSU’s DEI strategic goals. These categories will serve as the professorship cohorts to advance collaboration and help build each area's research, teaching and outreach agendas at MSU: diversity and data science; minority politics, urban journalism, and law and democracy; health; and social and environmental justice. The first cohort of cross-disciplinary 1855 Professors will begin fall 2022, with all positions expected to be filled by the end of the academic year.
Inclusive Language Resource Guide
Following recommendations in the DEI Report and Plan, University Communications is developing an inclusive language resource guide embedded as part of MSU’s brand site to inform best practices. The guide will serve as a resource for all members of the MSU community, especially communicators. Its goal is to encourage empathetic choices and maximize belonging through images and text that are accurate, appropriate and free of bias. The university inclusive language resource guide will build on important work done by the Global DEI Task Force, which led multiple projects to ensure that the more than 9,000 members of our international community feel welcome, safe and supported, including a three-part webinar series to increase awareness of inclusive language and images in a global context.
Work Group on Names and Pronouns
Efforts to increase diversity require updating data gathering methods and use in university systems. As a result, MSU convened the Short-Term Work Group on Names and Pronouns to focus on actions to better capture names and pronouns in existing infrastructure and processes. The work group made recommendations to acknowledge and support how MSU students, staff and faculty choose to identify. The outcome will shape future policy considerations that protect individual privacy and promote best practices.
All-Gender Inclusive Restroom Design Study
The All-Gender Restroom Design Study is a stakeholder initiative to expand equitable and inclusive restroom access in all buildings at MSU. The study, which includes participatory town halls and other input mechanisms, will identify parameters to serve as a guide for future improvement projects. MSU has completed 17 new all-gender or single-stall restrooms, including three in MSU Libraries, two in the Minskoff Pavilion, one in Eppley Hall, five in the Music Building and six in the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility.