The Rotary Club of Lansing Foundation is pleased to announce that applications for 2020 Local Grant Funding are now being accepted. Grant applications are due by Tuesday, March 31 by midnight.  More information about the grant process and a link to the on-line application can be found at the Rotary Club of Lansing’s website www.LansingRotary.org under the “Foundation” tab or Click Here.  All applications MUST be submitted through the on-line system.

You are invited!  Join us as we test out the Happy R's.  T.H.R. is intended to be an extension of Rotary.  It could serve as an alternative for our Friday meetings.  There will be a sign in sheet at each meet up.  Please be sure to sign in so we can have a head count.  We will meet every other Thursday.  You are more than welcome to invite coworkers and friends, THE MORE THE MERRIER!  Our next gathering will be Thursday, March 5th, we will meet at Arcadia Smokehouse, 2101 E. Michigan Avenue, Lansing, 48912 from 5:17 p.m. to 7:17 p.m.

On this cold, snow covered day, with the sun peeking through the clouds, President Pat Hanes called the meeting to order at 12:25 pm.

 

INVOCATION— Glenn Granger’s prayer focused on gratitude and all that he is grateful for: Fridays, Rotary, good friends, glad for having not been kicked out of Rotary, grateful for President Pat pushing him to do more as a board member, grateful for introducing a colleague to the club today, and especially grateful for today’s speaker, Dianne Byrum. He also gave thanks for the food and those who prepared it. Amen.

 

PATRIOTIC SONG: National Anthem

 

 

Jenn Dubey introduced Cameron Snow, who she just met. Cameron is an MSU grad who has a degree in finance. He lives in Jackson but his dad lives in Lansing and he is searching for ways to get more involved in the community.

 

Don Sovey of the Charlotte Club introduced himself.

 

Glenn Granger introduced Beth Pellerito, a new marketing and communications specialist from his company.

 

Susan Angel introduced Pastor Brown from the Rivers of Life Church. She also introduced Priscilla Bordayo of the same church’s advocacy program.

 

Janet Lilie introduced Megan Martin. This is her second visit to Rotary and, as the new executive director of the Arts Council, she is looking to join our club. Janet also introduced Sue Webster, a communications liaison from MSU.

 

Julie Pingston introduced Erin Carter, who is a manager for auxiliary services at MSU.

 

 

Pat Munshaw reported that the health of the club has had some challenges this week.

 

Jean Draper, Jack Draper’s wife, passed away on February 25th, after nearly 75 years of marriage. Her funeral will take place on March 19th.

 

Lisa Smith’s mother passed away, too. Her funeral took place today.

 

Helen Mickens is about to have foot surgery.

 

Please keep these Rotarians in your thoughts and prayers.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS by President Pat Hanes: 

 

1. Birthday Chair of the Month—Orlando Gillespie Birthday question of the month: “If you were in charge of making conversation heart candies, what would they say.” (This month yielded $800 with an 85% participation rate.)

 

Craig (who is famously known for having 10 kids): ’So, do you like kids?”

 

Uma: “Forever”

 

Nancy: “Be the person your dog thinks you are.”

 

2. Thank you to Paula Cunningham for a great month of speakers!

 

3. The Happy R’s meet every 2 weeks from 5:17 pm to 7:17 pm. Be sure to join them! The next gathering will take place on Thursday, March 5th, at the Arcadia Smokehouse (2101 East Michigan Avenue).

 

4. Local grant applications are OPEN! The deadline is March 31st at midnight.

 

5. There will be a “New Member Orientation” on Friday, March 27th, at the Country Club of Lansing (10:30 a.m.)

 

 

1. The Historical Society of Michigan honored Eugene & Marilyn Wanger by naming a conference after them. Congratulations, Eugene and Marilyn!

 

2. Julie Pingston was named CEO/President of the Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau. Congratulations, Julie!

 

 

Courtney Millbrook introduced today’s artist, cellist Kinhyun Kim, who plays for the LSO, as well as the Jackson, Midland and Flint symphonies. Born in South Korea, she has played the cello since she was eight years old. Today, she performed a piece by Philip Glass, an American composer who is one of the most influential composers of our time. This piece will be played again on Sunday at the Molly Grove Chapel, along with the other members of the Contempus Chamber Group. While today’s artist was worried about performing a ‘new’ piece at Rotary, Courtney promised her that this was a sophisticated crowd and implored her fellow Rotarians to act accordingly. The piece was spectacular!

 

TODAY’S SPEAKER: Dianne Byrum

 

Today’s chair of the day, Jack Davis, introduced Guest Speaker Dianne Byrum, who was first elected to the MSU Board of Trustees in 2008 and reelected in 2016. She presently serves as the board chair. During her political career, Ms. Byrum served as the Michigan House Democratic Leader and was the first Michigan woman to lead a caucus. Most recently, she co-chaired the presidential search committee at MSU, that resulted in the hiring of Dr. Samuel Stanley last summer.

 

According to Mr. Davis, Ms. Byrum is a remarkable leader. In addition to outstanding political and business careers, she played a pivotal role during the Nassar crisis. Her leadership as a liberal, alongside Melanie Foster’s leadership as a conservative, was outstanding in terms of MSU’s ability to arrive at a settlement.

 

Ms. Byrum, in Mr. Davis’ eyes, ‘takes a lot of heat but is hanging in there’. According to Mr. Davis, Ms. Byrum’s vision is crucial to the continued success of MSU. Her leadership has significantly impacted MSU’s positive impact on the region’s economy. Fifty thousand students and 10,000 staff and faculty presently comprise MSU, a leader in the area in music and athletics, nuclear science, biotech research, agricultural research, and training in the business professions. Today, Ms. Byrum has come to talk about the next decade at MSU. We are honored to have her with us today.

 

 

Ms. Byrum started by acknowledging that she knows at least one person at every table in the room. It’s nice to be here!

 

The main points of her talk follow:

 

1. After a 13-month search, Ms. Byrum is very excited about MSU’s ability to attract President Samuel Stanley to campus. While Melanie Foster and she were not not close at the start of the search process, they became 'best friends by speed dial’, by the end.

 

2. Why Stanley? After a multitude of focus groups around campus and the community, the fol lowing attributes became very important for the next president. They wanted someone who: has no need for on the job training, has a vast research background, can leverage MSU’s research portfolio, has experience building a diverse student and faculty/staff body, can address the issues at MSU and get it right, is from ‘outside’ and has no working knowledge of MSU, is a good listener, can act on what he hears, is unflappable, and isn’t afraid to allow the university to change in ways commensurate with the times. As a Harvard-trained MD who did extensive research at Washington University and held the largest research grant ever, and as a successful president at Stony Brook University in New York who listens well and is totally unflappable, Dr. Stanley was the best possible president for MSU. And MSU is extremely lucky!

 

3. Ms. Byrum shared a series of slides about MSU:

 

A. Student enrollment data: There are 8,500+ students in the most recent class. This includes 6,430 resident undergraduates, 1,480 domestic non-residents, and 1,260 transfer students. Their average GPA for admission is a 3.7. Total enrollment of the diverse student body includes 39,200 undergrads and 10,630 graduate and professional students. Students represent all fifty states and countries from around the globe. One in five students are from Michigan.

B. Student athletes: There are 23 intercollegiate sports at MSU—11 for men and 12 for women. Twenty of the 23 programs recently posted an all-time high student-athlete cumulative GPA of 3.6.

C. Academic excellence: Ranked #1 by U.S. News and World Report for graduate programs in elementary and secondary education, curriculum and instruction, African history, nuclear physics, organizational psychology, rehabilitation counseling, and supply chain management (also undergrad for this one). Ranked 34 among nation’s public universities. Ranked 20 among public research universities (up 8 places from 2018). Gold ratings for sustainability and veteran friendly programs. Member of prestigious 65-member Association of American Universities (for which Dr. Stanley serves on the board).

D. We’re committed to doing more: We have taken deliberate and meaningful action in the last year to be more aware and more accountable. We are committed to building on these efforts, to acting more thoughtfully, and to creating solutions for a safer, more secure and more supportive university. We must never have another situation like Nassar. Transparency is key, day by day, week by week, working how to address sexual assault on campus.

E. Building for tomorrow: New construction includes a STEM Education building, the Billman Music Pavilion, and the Minskoff Pavilion (a student-focused building, no faculty offices, all about student programming and engagement). And much is in the works for tomorrow, including the $450 million McLaren Hospital across from the Henry Center set to open late 2021, the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) that is now 92% complete, and the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building in Grand Rapids.

F. MSU research: creating new knowledge, solving the world’s greatest challenges: Funding has grown from $350 million in 2008 to $715 million in 2018. Funding comes primarily from federal and state agencies, industry, associations, and foundations. MSU is number 1 in combined Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. MSU is poised to surge in Health Sciences.

G. University Corporate Research Park: The VanCamp Incubator will be a multi-tenant wet lab incubator. It will be located in Meridian Township and will have shared equipment rooms. It was acquired by the MSU Foundation in November 2018 and the ribbon cutting will take place on September 12. The incubator was named in honor of Loretta VanCamp whose work contributed to developing the world’s leading anti-cancer drug, cisplatin.

H. Spartan Village redevelopment: Redevelopment of the former Spartan Village site. Mixed-use development to meet the long-term needs of the university. Includes 5-acre, long-term ground lease agreement with the MSU Foundation.

I. Regional impact: $5.8 billion impact to the state. $2.9 billion total impact in Greater Lansing area. $192 million spending with local businesses. Second largest employer in the region with approximately 11,000 living within a 50-mile radius and 6,000 employees residing in Meridian Township, Lansing or East Lansing. Of those employed at MSU, 22% live in Meridian Township, 17% live in Lansing and15% live in East Lansing. This is only going to grow with the opening of the FRIB and other facilities.

J. Current initiatives: Provost search; strategic planning; diversity, equity and inclusion plan; and relationship violence and sexual misconduct action plan.

 

4. An interesting fact is that President Stanley and his wife have been living in student housing for the last seven months. They will be moving into Cowles House soon.

 

5. The former Dean of the College of Human Medicine, Dr Norman Beauchamp, was recently promoted to Executive Vice President of Health Sciences, a new position that speaks to an increasingly robust medical presence in our community

 

 

1. What is MSU doing to address coronavirus? A protocol and plan are already in place. MSU is encouraging more hand washing and elbow bumping instead of hand shaking. It has suspended travel abroad to China and Italy. The question is how to keep some of our foreign students on campus after spring semester, taking into account their need for housing and summer coursework. Some are from Wuhan, China and cannot go back. MSU is taking a serious look at all travel.

 

2. What is happening with tuition at MSU? Presently, MSU costs $20K per year for MI residents and $47-50K for out of state students. The worst student debt to have is debt that accrues when students don’t complete their degrees. So it’s not just about the sticker price but also about whether students are graduating on time or graduating at all. Students who do not graduate have a more difficult time paying back their loans and those who take a longer time to graduate have significantly higher loans to pay back. MSU is the last in the Big Ten to implement block tuition. This means that students pay the same price for 12 credits as for 18 credits. Since research shows that full-time students who take 15-18 credits do better academically and graduate in less time than students who take only 12 credits. the purpose of block tuition is to encourage students to take more classes each semester, staying better engaged and graduating on time.

 

3. Some kids HAVE to take only 12 credits since working to pay for college takes up a significant chunk of their time. This means that they must pay more and take longer to complete their degrees. This is unfair and a cost borne by students of far lesser means. Since15 credits is the expected norm at MSU, block tuition is the right way to go, ensuring that as many as possible graduate in four years. this decision was made under Presiden Simon but but President Stanley agrees. When we enroll a student at MSU, we fully expect them to graduate on time.

 

4. The PR surrounding the Nassar case seemed amaeteurish. Are there any attempts to improve PR at MSU? PR at MSU is not where it needs to be. MSU’s response and ability to react to the Nassar scandal was as bad as it gets. And it couldn’t even be reactionary since everything was frozen in space because of the litigation surrounding case. It was a horrible experience for everyone although Ms. Byrum emphasized that her experience paled in comparison to what the survivors went through. PR at MSU is now a work in progress. While better, things are not yet where they need to be. In Ms. Byrum’s opinion, higher education is slower than state government to turn. President Stanley, however, is very involved in how PR is managed at MSU. He is going out in public lots more than his predecessor and we can look forward to him coming to Rotary soon.

 

In closing, President Pat complimented Ms. Byrum on her ability and willingness to listen—for decades… This includes at school board meetings, and at the Chamber when he was its head. She has been doing it for decades and making our community a better place because of it.

 

In lieu of a speaker’s gift, President Pat told Ms. Byrum that we will donate money to our Bio Sand Filter project to provide pure water to developing countries in the Dominican Republic

 

NEXT WEEK: We will meet at the LCC Downtown Campus in the Gannon Building, in the Michigan Room. Our speaker will be Kristine Kuhnert, Director of Ele’s Place.

 

 

Pam Miklavcic's email is:  pam@thedaviesproject.org