Michigan State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. MSU was founded in 1855 and served as a model for land-grant colleges and universities later created under the Morrill Act of 1862. The university was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, one of the country's first institutions of higher education to teach scientific agriculture. After the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. Today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the United States and has approximately 634,300 living alumni worldwide.
Sparty is the mascot of Michigan State University. Sparty is usually depicted as a muscular male Spartan warrior/athlete dressed in stylized Greek costume. After changing the team name from "Aggies" to "Spartans" in 1925, various incarnations of a Spartan warrior with a prominent chin appeared at university events and in university literature. In 1943, MSU art professor Leonard D. Jungwirth designed a statue for the university, which had to be cast in terra cotta because of World War II rationing. In 2005, the university replaced Jungwirth's original statue with a bronze replica, moving the original indoors to protect it from the elements.
Lou Anna Kimsey Simon is an American academic administrator who served as the 20th president of Michigan State University (MSU). Simon was appointed interim president of the university in 2003, then served as president from 2005 until her resignation in 2018.
Mateen Ahmad Cleaves is a retired American basketball player. He played parts of six seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was an All-American college player for Michigan State, where he led the Spartans to a national championship in 2000.
The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and white. The university participates in the NCAA's Division I and the Football Bowl Subdivision for football. The Spartans participate as members of the Big Ten Conference in all varsity sports. Michigan State offers 11 varsity sports for men and 12 for women.
The State News is the student newspaper of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. It is supported by a combination of advertising revenue and a $7.50 refundable tax that students pay at each semester's matriculation. Though The State News is supported by a student tax, the faculty and administration do not interfere in the paper's content. The State News is governed by a Board of Directors, which comprises journalism professionals, faculty and students. In 2010, the Princeton Review ranked The State News as the #8 best college newspaper in the country. And in 2015, the Society of Professional Journalists named TSN as the nation's best daily college newspaper for 2014.
The Spartan Marching Band (SMB) is the marching band of Michigan State University. The band has over 300 members and is the second oldest in the Big Ten Conference, with its founding in 1870. Notable music educator Leonard Falcone directed the band from 1927 through 1967.
Ohio University Marching 110 is the official marching band of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, founded in 1923. The nickname Marching 110 is a reference to the band's original number of members. The 2017 band consists of 240 members. It represents the university at various athletic functions and other events, including over 40 NFL halftime shows.
The Michigan State Spartans football program (MSU) represents Michigan State University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. The Spartans are members of the Big Ten Conference. Michigan State claims a total of six national championships. The Spartans have also won eleven conference championships, with two in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and nine in the Big Ten. The Spartans compete with in-state rival Michigan for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.
Mark Justin Dantonio is a former American football coach and player. He most recently served as the head football coach at Michigan State University, a position he had held from 2007 to 2019, presiding over one of the most successful eras in the program's history. He led the Michigan State Spartans to three Big Ten Conference championships, and eight victories over archrival Michigan in 13 years. In 2013, he coached Michigan State to its first 13-win season and the program's fifth trip to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Stanford and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the nation. This was the second time a Big Ten team reached the 13-win mark, the previous being Ohio State's national championship season in 2002, where Dantonio was the defensive coordinator. The 2013 season also marked the first time a Big Ten team won nine conference games each by double digits. In 2015, Dantonio became the first head coach in Big Ten history to achieve at least 11 wins in five of six seasons. On December 6, 2015, Dantonio's Spartans qualified for the College Football Playoff for the first time in the program's history.
Walter Adams was an Austrian-born American economist and college professor. He served as the 13th President of Michigan State University and served as an expert witness before 36 congressional committees.
Jack Stamp is a North American Wind Ensemble conductor and composer. He has approximately sixty compositions available from Neil A. Kjos Music Company, including his most well-known piece, Gavorkna Fanfare, which was dedicated to Eugene Corporon. In 1993, he formed the Keystone Wind Ensemble, comprising students, alumni and professors at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which has been recorded on 16 albums.
The Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents Michigan State University (MSU). The team plays at the Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Michigan, on the MSU campus. The current head coach is Danton Cole, who took over coaching duties on April 11, 2017, after Tom Anastos resigned. Michigan State currently competes in the Big Ten Conference.
The Michigan State University Children's Choir (MSUCC) is a Grammy Award-winning children's choir located in East Lansing, Michigan. In 2009, Kristin Zaryski was named director, succeeding the founder of the choir, Mary Alice Stollak. Following Ms. Zaryski, Kyle Zeuch was named Director. After 5 years, Kyle Zeuch departed for Lebanon Valley College. He was succeeded by current director Alison Geesey-Lagan. Most choristers in the choir come from the two other children's choirs in the program, the CMS Singers, and Preparatory Choir. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Orchestra Hall in Detroit, Symphony Center in Chicago, and the Kennedy Center, in Washington D.C. In 2006, the choir won two Grammy Awards for their contributions to William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Best Choral Performance and Best Classical Album.
The Band of the Fighting Irish is the marching band of the University of Notre Dame. Over 300 members of the band represent nearly every field of study, and include students from across the United States as well as from overseas.
Augustus George "Gus" Ganakas was an American sports broadcaster and Michigan State Spartans men's basketball coach. He was the head coach there from 1969 to 1976.
Samuel L. Stanley Jr. is an American educator, biomedical researcher and the president of Michigan State University. He formerly served as the president of Stony Brook University. Stanley is married to Ellen Li, a practicing gastroenterologist and active researcher.
Leonard Vincenzo Falcone (Fal-CONE-ee) was an Italian-American musician, conductor, arranger, lecturer, and educator. He was well known as a virtuoso on the baritone horn, having extensively performed, written, and educated on the instrument. Falcone was best known as Director of Bands and Professor of Tuba and Euphonium at Michigan State University and as director of the Spartan Marching Band from 1927 through 1967. During Falcone's tenure at MSU the band expanded from a small ROTC auxiliary band to a large nationally known Big Ten marching band. Scholarship endowments at Michigan State University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp were established in his honor, as was the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Festival.
Dr. Harry Begian (1921-2010) was an American band director, composer and arranger. Begian taught at both the secondary and collegiate level during his career.
Jerry Junkin is an American conductor of wind bands and educator. Junkin serves on the faculty of the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands. He conducts the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, and instructs graduate as well as undergraduate conducting courses. Additionally, Junkin has served as the conductor of the Dallas Wind Symphony since 1993.
