Message from the Chair

Friday, 28 October 2011 19:11

Greetings to all from East Lansing. The semester is well underway, and there is already a serious morning chill in the air. As is the norm this time of year, my family has begun the wistful looks at the cross county skis. As you might expect, not all of my colleagues are quite as keen about the prospect of early snowfall!


One of the more pleasant assignments I get every year is to address our incoming freshmen. It is impossible for one to not to feel the excitement and trepidation in the room as these new students begin their career at Michigan State. For me, it is a good occasion to remind myself of the extraordinary richness of this campus. I like to challenge the freshman to take advantage of this richness. In particular, I urge them to seek out our best and most demanding faculty. Those who challenge themselves will be rewarded with one of the finest educations possible. I hope that those of you who have had this experience will accept my invitation to reengage with the department. More than ever we are going to need the help and support of alumni and friends to maintain our long-standing excellence as a department. Feel free to drop me note at rhula@msu.edu to share your MSU experiences, current activities or thoughts about the current state of the university.

As part of expanding outreach efforts I have been working over the past several months to establish an external advisory board for the department. The board has been created to (1) provide advice on curricula of both academic and outreach programs, (2) help with recruitment/retention of outstanding students, (3) support placement and career opportunities for graduates, (4) support lifelong professional growth and engagement among alumni, and (5) identify resources in support of faculty research and scholarship. The overall goal of the board is to strengthen ties of the department to its alumni and friends, and provide a forum in which we can devise strategies to move the department forward in a time of serious budget challenges. In late September we had an initial organizing meeting. The spring newsletter will provide more details and updates on the activities of the board.

We remain excited about our evolving off-campus state politics program. We will be teaching a course on state politics in downtown Lansing next semester, and hope to offer a full semester program next year. The semester program will combine an internship with classroom study. The program has generated a good deal of enthusiasm on the part of both students and policy practitioners in state government. We believe that state government can (and should) provide a laboratory for students interested in politics and public policy.

I want to congratulate Professor Jerry Weinberger (who is featured elsewhere in this newsletter). Jerry has been selected as a university distinguished professor. He joins Professor Michael Bratton as the department's second university distinguished professor. This is a distinction granted only to the most respected members of the university community. It is, of course, a wonderful individual achievement. However, it also underscores the quality and rigor of the department as a whole.

- Ric Hula, Chair and Professor