MSU 2030: Excellence for Global Impact unveiled

Michigan State University unveiled a new strategic plan -- MSU 2030 – in September 2021, articulating a shared vision for the university and six bold priorities for continuous improvement. As originally planned, and now under the leadership of President Kevin Guskiewicz, the strategic plan is being refreshed to reflect on lessons learned, adjust course and make progress toward becoming a more contemporary institution focused on cross-cutting priorities and solutions – with “synergy unleashed.” 

The refreshed, reframed and reimagined strategic plan, MSU 2030: Excellence for Global Impact, reaffirms leadership’s commitment to a shared vision for the university through the end of the decade. 

Here to discuss the evolution of MSU 2030 are MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and MSU Vice President for Strategic Initiatives Bill Beekman.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:15) – Kevin, you’ve said that the compelling vision of an institution taking on the challenges of the 21st century is among the things that attracted me to Michigan State. How so?

(2:08) – Bill, you’ve been involved with the plan’s development and implementation since the start. What strikes you about the plan’s refresh?

(4:11) – Kevin, you’ve often referred to MSU 2030 as a roadmap. Why is it important for MSU to have this plan and to refresh it now? And what do you mean by “synergy unleashed?

(6:24) - The newly revised MSU 2030 plan maintains as foundational elements six strategic and cross-cutting themes and priorities — Student Success, Staff and Faculty Success, Discovery and Innovation for Impact, Sustainable Health, Stewardship for a Sustainable Future, and Access, Opportunity and Excellence.

Let’s talk about the cross-cutting themes that are injecting new energy into these ongoing efforts and uniting key areas. How do they complement the themes? How and why were they developed and elaborate on what you mean.

First, Grow Talent for Michigan and Beyond.

(9:10) - Drive Health Transformation.

(11:27) - Enroll for the Future.

(14:27) - Build Community Together.

(17:05) - Achieve Next-Generation Operations and Organization.

(18:50) - Access, Opportunity and Excellence.

(20:15) - What’s next? How will implementation proceed, and how will we measure progress and success?

(21:48) – Final thoughts.

Listen to “MSU Today with Russ White” on the radio and through Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Conversation Transcript:

Russ White:

Michigan State University unveiled a new strategic plan MSU 2030 in September, 2021, articulating a shared vision for the university and six bold priorities for continuous improvement as originally planned. And now under the leadership of President Kevin Kasowitz, the strategic plan is being refreshed to reflect on lessons learned, adjust course and make progress toward becoming a more contemporary institution focused on cross-cutting priorities and solutions. With Synergy Unleashed, the refreshed, reframed, and re-imagined strategic plan MSU 2030 Excellence for Global Impact reaffirms leadership's commitment to a shared vision for the university through the end of the decade. Here to discuss the evolution of MSU 2030, our MSU President, Kevin Guskiewicz and MSU, vice President for Strategic Initiatives, bill Beekman and Kevin and Bill, great to have you back in the state of the art studios of Impact Radio here on campus. And Kevin, you've said that the compelling vision of an institution taking on the challenges of the 21st century is among the things that attracted you to Michigan State. How so, and why?

Kevin Guskiewicz:

Well, Michigan State University is a proudly public university, one that fills a commitment to the people of Michigan. We rely on taxpayer dollars to transform the lives and improve the quality of life for Michiganders. And so much of the work that's done here through our teaching research and outreach is about the common good. I mean, the new strategic plan that we're here talking about, it's woven throughout the entire roadmap. It's about all that we do is for the public good, the common good. And we felt that the first time we touched down here in East Lansing. And 18 months in, I feel even better about where we're headed than what I did two years ago when I started exploring the opportunity.

Speaker 1:

And Bill, you've been involved with the plan's development and implementation from the start. What strikes you about the refresh?

Bill Beekman:

Well, I think one of the most important things about the refresh is the fact that we're actually doing it. So often you have strategic plans that get built and there's inordinate amounts of time spent working on them, and then they sort of drift away. And I think what's really wonderful about the creation of this plan and those that were there at the start, is that they very intentionally decided that we should have a refresh that about a third 40% of the way into the implementation of the plan, that we should pause, take a look at the environment, what's changed, what's going well, what should we be thinking about changing based on internal and external factors and recalibrate. And so it's really a living plan. And to me that's one the most important aspects of the plan is that it does change. It does adapt to our circumstances and our environment.

(03:08):

It allows for us to think about where should we be course correcting? What things should we be doing differently? How should we learn from what we've done? And that constant course correcting and a living plan, I think continues to make it relevant to what we're doing. And so the process has really been wonderful and allowed our team to focus on the future. It was fortuitous that it happened as Kevin had been here for about nine months or thereabouts, so his energy and vision could be incorporated into the work we're doing. And so yeah, it's been a wonderful process and it's great to see it finished and the work of implementation goes on.

Speaker 1 (03:57):

Yes. And Kevin, you've often referred to MSU 2030 as a roadmap in addition to a strategic plan. Why is it important for MSU to have this plan and to refresh it now? And what do you mean by synergy unleashed?

Speaker 2 (04:12):

Well, I've always used the word roadmap rus because I think you need a roadmap to get to a destination. And the destination that was agreed upon back in 2021 were set of established goals and priorities and how we were going to get there needed to be sort of re-imagined. But again, I think as Bill's already said, it's sort of reaffirming those six initial prio...