Dwyer discusses his career path at MSU that began in 2006 as associate dean for research in the College of Human Medicine. He tells how the Flint Water Crisis was “when I had the privilege of becoming the director of MSU Extension . A lot of people thought, ‘Huh, this is odd. A sociologist who has spent the last decade in a College of Human Medicine with Extension.’ I think a number of people were sort of wondering how all of that worked, but I think it all comes down to the connection to the co...
Dec 29, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 91
He became president and CEO of Wendy's in 2016 after joining the organization in 2013. Prior to that, he held leadership positions with the Kellogg Company and Ford Motor Company. Penegor is a member of the Eli Broad College of Business Advisory Board. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting in 1987 and an MBA in Finance in 1989, both from MSU. “Growing up in the Upper Peninsula, I was focused on attending a Big Ten School,” says Penegor on the MSU Today podcast . “I looked at other schools b...
Dec 15, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Moran’s true discipline is asking the right questions and merging human and environmental sciences to get a holistic understanding of some of the world’s most crucial problems—climate change, land use—and a project he pioneered some 30 years ago: determining the potential of the humid tropics for intensive agriculture. Moran is a John A. Hannah Distinguished Professor with the Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences , the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations , the E...
Dec 14, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Today we're talking with Erik about his latest book, The Focus Project: The Not so Simple Art of Doing Less , and how the digital landscape has changed since we last spoke three years ago and will continue to change in 2021. Erik is a five-time number one bestselling author and motivational keynote speaker. He's performed in over 55 countries and his work has been used by the likes of the National Guard, NBC Universal and NASA. His keynote topics focus on innovation, leadership, digital trends, ...
Dec 07, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 88
“We began in 1937 and we recently celebrated our 83rd anniversary,” Clobes says in discussing the credit union’s beginnings. “Credit unions are membership-based non-profit cooperatives. They work a lot like some of the things that you might see today like a GoFundMe.” Clobes says MSUFCU continues to embrace the latest technology to provide members with the best possible service. There’s even an “Ask Fran” chat bot to help answer members’ questions on the credit union’s website. Fran was the cred...
Dec 01, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 87
“It's really a very special place,” Grannemann tells Beekman. “It's a home away from home for many of our members, who often call us their ‘Cheers.’ We're a private club that offers services and programs for those who value quality experiences, personalized service, and a lovely atmosphere. It's interesting we can talk about what we are physically, which is a private restaurant, a banquet facility, a fitness center and a spa and a beautiful new outdoor pool and hot tub complex. But I always like...
Dec 01, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 86
So how can we cut through the noise and make healthy and tasty food choices for our families? We'll hear from two Spartans whose lives revolve around food: award-winning author and speaker, Michele Payn and MSU corporate chef, Kurt Kwiatkowski. Michele and Chef Kurt will pull back the curtain on food and demystify some of the myths and misnomers fed to consumers. Michele is a 1993 graduate of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources , holding a degree in agricultural communications and a...
Nov 30, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Bennett will also be a professor in MSU's College of Human Medicine . He most recently served as Northwestern University's inaugural associate provost for diversity and inclusion and its chief diversity officer. Bennett will report directly to President Stanley and work collaboratively with other university senior executives, deans, faculty, staff, and students, to develop and implement a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. Bennett shares his background and career path that has ...
Nov 20, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Cregg says “things are going well with our growers. Demand has been up the last few years; we're seeing good industry growth these days for Michigan trees.” And he describes some of the latest research he and his colleagues are involved in related to real Michigan Christmas trees. He also talks about how climate change is impacting Michigan’s Christmas tree industry. And he describes the mission of the Michigan Christmas Tree Association . Cregg offers his tips on selecting, maintaining, and pro...
Nov 20, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Providing the analysis are Arnold Weinfeld, associate director for the institute, institute director Dr. Matt Grossman , and MSU economist Dr. Charlie Ballard. “Michigan did go against Donald Trump and swung toward the Democrats, but not by much and not by as much as the polls were expecting,” Grossmann says. “We again saw a polling error in the same direction in very similar states from 2016, but of course, with a different electoral result that was mainly driven by white voters with a college ...
Nov 20, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 82
We do so with Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown , the Inaugural Chairperson and Professor of AAAS , Dr. Tamura Lomax , Foundational Associate Professor of AAAS, Dr. Kristie Dotson , Executive Academic Advisor to AAAS and Professor of Philosophy, and Dr. April Baker-Bell , continuing member of the transition team and Associate Professor of Language, Literacy and English Education. “The African American and African Studies at Michigan State University (AAAS) began as a program in 2002,” says Dotson. “What was...
Nov 13, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In a survey of 3,000 U.S. adults, people who were meeting an exercise goal of 150 minutes per week pre pandemic saw a 32 percent drop in physical activity following social distancing orders. So how can we get back on track or start a new fitness routine without risking injury? Our guests are FLEXcity Fitness co-founders Trista Parisian and Jenny Quinn. Trista and Jenny talk about some of the challenges their fitness studio has faced during the pandemic, how they pivoted to livestream sessions, a...
Nov 10, 2020•21 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Thomas is a university distinguished professor, and in 2008, he led the team that prepared the winning FRIB proposal, bringing FRIB to Michigan State University . Since then, he's led a team of 850 employees to run the FRIB laboratory within Michigan State University. “FRIB is the world's most powerful heavy ion accelerator,” Glasmacher tells Spartans athletic director Bill Beekman. “We can accelerate any element from hydrogen to uranium to half the speed of light at quite a high intensity. By d...
Oct 30, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 79
At the MSU Broad , her first initiative was a community-powered installation entitled Acts of Care, where local individuals submit nominations for honoring those who have taken care of our communities during this pandemic. “The museum is a tremendous asset to be linked and nested in such a prominent and respected university as Michigan State University ,” Ramirez Montagut tells Spartans Athletic Director Bill Beekman. “What our university museum has that few other independent museums have is tha...
Oct 30, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 78
The College of Music at Michigan State University is thrilled to announce that a project created fully by artists from MSU has been nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards. King Mangoberry is a suite of music for wind symphony written by MSU professor of composition Ricardo Lorenz that has now been recognized internationally, and the connections to MSU and the surrounding community are strong. In addition to Ricardo, this recording is performed by students in the MSU Wind Symphony, conducted by MS...
Oct 28, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 77
“We started in 1970 with people like Jack Shingleton and Patrick Scheetz,” says Gardner. “They saw that they could add information and understanding to the broader community in college recruiting. The survey has continued to grow and evolve.” Gardner says the pandemic is having a dramatic impact on the college labor market. “It’s changing how companies recruit. The virus makes it very difficult for companies to decide on what their hiring needs are. There's a group of employers that have no choi...
Oct 27, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Michigan’s election landscape still looks uneven, Matt Grossmann, director of MSU’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Science, said in the monthly IPPSR broadcast that covered politics, economics and a new election “pick-em” game, Election Madness . On the podcast, MSU Economist Charles Ballard projected a pickup in the economy late in 2021 or even by mid-2022 as job losses have worsened recently and further fiscal stimulus legislation stalls. Political scientist Eric Gonzalez Juenke was th...
Oct 22, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 75
She's also been a magazine editor and the owner of a large, successful agricultural advertising agency. In addition, Patricia is a distinguished alumni award recipient from MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Orlowitz reflects on her more traditional communications career before 1997 and her international development career since. On the global front, she has worked on numerous U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) projects, in a variety of roles, at far flung locatio...
Oct 21, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 74
During the pandemic, Robin has shifted her outreach methods from large scale, in-person events to personalized accessible experiences for parents and kids adjusting to the new reality of at home learning. “The pandemic has made families really concerned with whether this will be a lost year or not,” Pizzo says. “Families have to be very flexible and fluid. They have to be okay with not knowing what tomorrow is or what changes may occur in the future as soon as a week from now. And that uncomfort...
Oct 20, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Siu is from the Cleveland Ohio area and came to MSU from Case Western Reserve University. “I'm really excited to come to Michigan State and learn another organization structure, a whole lot of new people, and build new relationships,” says Siu. “I hope to bring what I have in terms of experience and goals to help develop the leadership among IT teams and the security team overall and help Michigan State become a little more agile from an IT standpoint and able to respond to the constantly growin...
Oct 07, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Bennett most recently served as Northwestern University's inaugural associate provost for diversity and inclusion and its chief diversity officer. As vice president and chief diversity officer, Bennett will report directly to President Stanley and work collaboratively with other university senior executives, deans, faculty, staff, and students to develop and implement a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion plan. “We are living through an intense period of reckoning around issues of rac...
Oct 06, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 71
“One thing that struck me as I have been reflecting on our history is the role that radio has played in the advent of public media, and I think MSU saw the potential of broadcasting early on,” says Susi Elkins, director of broadcasting at MSU and general manager of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University. “They saw it as a force to improve the lives of Michiganders, and I don't know if a lot of people know this, but they began an experimental radio broadcasting service in 1917. It wasn't ...
Oct 05, 2020•22 min•Season 1Ep. 70
“Jill runs a really extraordinary program that represents Michigan State so nicely in Detroit on the street named after Jill on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit,” quips Beekman. “So Jill, give us a sense of what the program's about and a little bit of background on what happens at the Community Music School in Detroit .” “We’re in the MSU Detroit Center just a stone's throw from the new Little Caesars Arena,” says Woodward. “And we actually just celebrated our 10th anniversary if you can beli...
Oct 01, 2020•29 min•Season 1Ep. 69
“I kind of say I do stuff, Bill,” Gore says. “We do all the on-campus living in the residence halls and apartments. On a normal year, there are roughly about 16,000 to 17,000 students and student families living across campus. We are one of the largest single campus residential systems in the country. We also do all the culinary food service on campus. In a normal year, we serve between Sunday through Thursday about 50,000 meals a day. And then we run a hotel, we have two golf courses, the tenni...
Oct 01, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 68
DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar was on hand for the ceremony and joins me on MSU today. “That means the facility is open for researchers at MSU, elsewhere in Michigan, and around the nation and world,” says Dabbar. “We make a conscious effort to build our facilities in places where they can be opened up for users. The way people get access to FRIB is they have to submit and pitch proposals. We then select available time for researchers to come and use the facility based on their scie...
Sep 30, 2020•18 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Erica Schmittdiel is a licensed master social worker and CARE advocacy coordinator at MSU Safe Place . “A lot of us think of the physical aspect of domestic violence, and while that is certainly present, in some domestic violence relationships not everybody is physically abused,” says Schmittdiel. “And they may be experiencing things like emotional, verbal, or sexual abuse and isolation. Victims often are not really allowed to have much of a social life. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're ...
Sep 28, 2020•20 min•Season 1Ep. 66
While the nation goes to the polls to elect a president on Nov. 3, the Electoral College determines the country’s next leader, said Economics Professor Charles Ballard said in the monthly Institute for Public Policy and Social Research broadcast. September’s Podcast covered fresh pandemic observations on the nature of work and guest appearances from Michigan Political Leadership Program Co-Directors Susy Avery and Steve Tobocman. The U.S. Constitution provides for each presidential candidate to ...
Sep 26, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 65
As we enter into the harvest season for some of Michigan's major crops, Kirk Heinze discusses the overall status of our state's agriculture with the current and past presidents of the Michigan Agri-Business Association ( MABA ). Chuck Lippstreu took over the MABA helm from Jim Byrum in January. Byrum served as the MABA president for 25 years and keeps busy with the family business and several consulting engagements ranging from ag finance management to government affairs. “The Michigan Agri-Busi...
Sep 24, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Vennie is the vice president for Auxiliary Enterprises. And recently President Stanley promoted Vennie to senior vice president as he is now also overseeing Student Affairs and Services. And Joe Salem is dean of libraries. Vennie and Joe are the steering committee co-chairs of MSU’s strategic planning process that's charting a course toward a brighter future for the university. It's an inclusive and comprehensive strategic planning process. And while many of the plans have been adjusted or place...
Sep 17, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 63
“Food has become a battleground where spurious marketing labels and misinformation are used to cajole, manipulate, even shame consumers about their eating choices.” So writes Michele Payn (’93 B.S., Animal Science; ’93 B.S., Agriculture and Natural Resources Communication) in her third book, Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying B.S. , (Morgan James, 2019), recipient of the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) Gold Medal in Health, Medicine and Nutrition. Armed with science, compelling personal...
Sep 16, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 62
