Russ White 0:00
Well, August 1, 2021, will be the second anniversary for Michigan State University President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., taking office as president of America's premier land grant institution. So it seems like a great time to catch up with him to look back a little bit. But more importantly, let's look ahead to MSU's vibrant future and President Stanley, always great to have you on MSU Today.

President Stanley 0:25
I'm very excited to be with you, Russ. And it's been, I think, a remarkable two years. And I'm so glad as we look towards the fall, to be a part of MSU, and the important work that's going on there.

Russ White 0:38
It's been so fortunate for all of us to have your infectious disease expertise to help us guide through uncharted territory is not even appropriate. But appreciate and thank you for your leadership and just reflect a bit on your first couple of years at MSU.

President Stanley 0:55
Well, first of all, thank you for your kind words. And as I said, little did we know, when we began that that would turn out to be valuable to the university, but I'm glad it has been. And I think you know, but I think at MSU, this notion of of safety has been so important. And I think that obviously this issue around the pandemic really was one that that fit with that in terms of putting the safety of our students, faculty and staff first. And that's something that's been my goal since I came to MSU. I think what still stands out the most since I've come is is the people, and the students, faculty and staff, the alums, the kind of commitment and love they show from Michigan State University has been impressive. And it's really helped us I think, pull through this past year and a half or so together in a very positive way. And I think there's been some institutions where there's been some divisiveness, some conflicts between administration and faculty, some conflicts between students and administration related to these policies. And I think I'm really impressed how this MSU and maybe a few other institutions have pulled together in this time and really come together in a very positive way. I've had a chance now recently, now that we're gathering again, to talk to alumni, to talk to students. And again, I'm impressed by the fact that you know, you know, away from campus, they talk about how they stuck with MSU. They're excited about MSU. They're excited about coming back, but they understand completely what we went through. But they emerged from it stronger, and they did get educated, they did continue on their academic progress. And I think that's a testament again, to the hard work of our faculty and staff, and the resiliency of our students during what were really remarkably difficult times.

Russ White 2:34
Are there some things that have surprised you along the way, or just maybe some lessons learned in your first couple years?

President Stanley 2:39
Well, I still think I was impressed by how much students cared about the college experience and being in East Lansing. And I think when we made that first decision to go remotely, I probably expected more students would return home than did. And I think that as I said, that's a testament to how much they wanted to be with their fellow classmates and how much they wanted to stay in the college environment. So I think that's been a lesson we'll take forward. And it's gets somewhat transmitted to our decision to have, you know, two year residency for students coming up in the fall, because we recognize how valuable this experiences, we know it and could do improved education, I think that made a difference. And the second thing, as I said before, is just people's willingness to embrace the rules that we had and follow the rules that we set forward. So if you take a look at what happened with our research work, which we are able to continue what happened in our dormitories, people were almost generally completely following the rules that we set forward about masking and social distancing. Doing that in the class, as we had, as we open more classes in the spring, so that that's not always the case, you know, where people were willing to buckle in and do this. And then the sacrifices, I was surprised, you know, we really asked sacrifices from our academic faculty and staff are represented workers. And the fact that they were stepped up, you know, the senior leadership took a pay cut, the fact that they were willing to do that, and recognize the tough financial situation we're in because of the pandemic was amazing. And of course, we're working hard to restore those things. And I think that's going to be important for everybody that we continue that important progress towards financial stability. But I really appreciated the fact that people were willing to do that. And again, it's a testimony I think, to this being Spartans and their commitment MSU. And their willingness to recognize and understand that sometimes we're forced to do some things that are difficult, but our goal will continue to be to that we value their work, we value the efforts they put in for Michigan State University will continue all we can do to reward that.

Russ White 4:27
Spartans Will., sir. So as we look ahead to the fall, you know, certainly let's discuss the COVID protocols. And I'm sure you want to encourage people who haven't yet to get that vaccination. But as you look forward to the fall in the next couple of months, what are you thinking about?

President Stanley 4:42
So I'm really excited. I think, obviously, you know, we are paying such close attention to what's happening with the Delta variant, what's happened in cases in around the United States, but particularly in our region, because that dictates a lot of what we are able to do or not do. And I think one of the things I want to say just to reassure the campus is that we are still going to continue this policy of safety. First, we're going to be monitoring what's happening in the community. We're not going to be doing things that run countervalent to what's coming down from the CDC, from DHHS, from Ingham County Health, we are going to put that at the forefront of what we do. We're still in a good position right now, as far as the state of Michigan, and particularly our region in East Lansing goes, we have seen slight increases in cases over the past couple weeks than we were previously. But our vaccination rate for this region appears to be high overall, compared to other regions of the state, which is great. I applaud the people of East Lansing would continue everybody to continue to get to that vaccination, get vaccinated if they have not been. And that's the message, of course that we're giving to our students, faculty and staff that the key to opening this fall is to have as many people vaccinated as possible, I would love to see 100% of people vaccinated here, I think that would make a lot of sense. So we'll continue to emphasize that we'll continue to show people how it's easy to get a vaccine. And we'll continue to answer questions. And I'm willing said before, I'm going to do more educational opportunities. And I also continue to exhort our faculty and students and staff who've been vaccinated to talk to their peers who may not have and tell them why the reasons why they had to get vaccinated. But there's still some people who may have hesitation or concern. And so we've got to continue to outreach to them and educate them, because it's so important going forward. But again, so we're gonna continue to monitor this, we're going to continue to take if we if things change if situation changes, and we see a growth in cases that have been seen in some other states, most of whom, of course, have lower vaccination rates than Michigan, that's really important to say. But if we saw that kind of outbreak, we'll be prepared to deal with it. And that could be a resumption of masking, that could be an expansion of a testing program, there's a number of things we can do. And of course, continued education and providing optimal access to vaccines would be a huge part of that issue as well. So I'm excited about going forward. But we're going in with eyes wide open. We know that people have some concerns, we want to make sure we're listening to them, and understanding what those concerns are. But the best way, Russ, and you said it to begin with, the best way to take care of this problem is for as many people as possible to get vaccinated. And I look forward to the to the moment when the FDA approves the vaccine for children under 12. Because I think that's going to help some parents get more confidence and more or less concerns. I think about going forward. I think students need to go back to school, I think it's very important. But I think people will be I think more comfortable. Many families will be more comfortable when they know their children have been vaccinated, even though the risk of disease for children, as we know overall is very low. It's still a concern. If I was a parent of younger child, I'd certainly have concerned about it as well. So I think that will make a difference. And hopefully that FDA approval and the data necessarily to obtain it will be coming out soon.

Russ White 7:43
catching up with Michigan State University President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D. on this edition of MSU Today, and, sir, I'm wondering if just from kind of that 30,000 foot view, what you see is some of both the challenges and opportunities not only for MSU. But but higher education.

President Stanley 8:01
So you know, I think it we've just gone through another, you know, hopefully very brief but significant economic upheaval. And of course, we had 2009-10 when again, the economy was troubled. And I think what you saw during that time was college education was extraordinarily valuable, that the difference for many people between employment and unemployment was a college education. So I think, you know, getting that message across. And I think that i think that's been driven home, again, by the pandemic, of the importance of going to college and completing college. So I think we would need to continue to speak more about the kind of access we're providing for students access to excellence. But importantly, the completion. There used to be a philosophy is one looked at higher education of, you know, selectivity and how elite you were was the most important thing. That was the wrong focus. And I think we've changed the focus now to how do we make sure that the students we accept in Michigan State University and we want to accept as many as we can, how do we make sure that they succeed in Michigan State University and go on to the productive life that a college degree helps people achieve? So that to me is continued importance, I think it's going to be a high priority for us as we go forward. And so Dziedzic plan is students access, and then how do we eliminate the gaps in graduation rates. So that's something that I think troubles me and others, we need to make sure that the students coming here, graduate from Michigan State University, and we have gaps right now between certain groups in graduation rates Pell and non Pell students, for example. So one of our major, you know, focuses over the next, you know, few years while at least in under my leadership is going to be to work to abolish those gaps. And that's a tall order, but it's doable. And I think that's something we'll focus on. The other thing is, you know, again, we've recognized how important research is, you know, biomedical research has certainly come to the fore this miraculous, you know, ability to turn out this vaccine to see how well these mRNA vaccines worked. That shows again, the power of research and innovation and how it can really change people's lives in a very, very concrete manner. And so I think continuing to emphasize the kind of work we're doing at MSU, making sure we're tackling those grand challenges. You know, in the midst of this pandemic, we're seeing wildfires in California, again, we're seeing flooding in parts of the US and in Europe that we've never seen before. So climate change, global warming remain major challenges. What is Michigan State doing? And what our expertise being applied to make a difference in those areas? And then I think I look at the state, what are we doing to help economic development of the state? What are we making Michigan a better place where people want to live? That's where our arts coming in to play that we were doing at the broad Museum, the kind of environment we're providing for people how to create a society where people want to stay or community where people want to stay in Michigan, and see this as a place and particularly with work remote being more and more possible, you know, states that really provide quality of life, there's going to be more of a premium on there than I think there's ever been before. So how do we do these things to create this in Michigan State as a state of by Michigan State University. So I'm excited by all these kinds of opportunities. I think the COVID is talking covid 19 pandemic, as we talked about before, has brought into high relief, many of these issues, health disparities is a number one that I think we need to tackle. And I'm very excited about the work we're doing now and how we can do more. And I look at things like the apple developer Academy and the Henry Ford health system alliance that we've developed our partnerships with other health care providers, all of which are ways in which and provide access for us to make differences in people's lives and to transform life, if you will not just lives, but life in Michigan State and as Michigan as a state and beyond.

Russ White 11:36
Well, President Stanley, thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. Congratulations on two years at the helm of this fine University. And just any final thoughts you want to leave for Spartans as we wrap up?

President Stanley 11:47
Well, again, I'm so excited about fall, it's been wonderful to have the chance to continue to communicate. Thank you, Russ, for the work you've done in helping me communicate through these podcasts. Through the work we've done with alumni events, and so on. I really appreciate that. But it'd be nice to see people face to face in person, I had a chance to get to Northern Michigan and get to Traverse City in Petoskey. And to meet a number of people to visit our research centers there. And I came back energized and invigorated. Because there's so many amazing things happening than MSU is involved in. It's wonderful for me to have the chance to meet people and talk to them about how MSU is transforming their lives and learn from them ways in which we might do more and included seeing the number of our students on that trip and by the way, each one of them had been vaccinated which gives me more hope again for the fall.

Russ White 12:33
Well, that's Michigan State University President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D. Keep up with all he's doing at president.msu.edu and follow along on Instagram @msupresstanley is the handle there and I'm Russ White. This is MSU Today.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai