Michigan State University (MSU) is a co-educational public research university in East Lansing, Michigan USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act. Its alumni include at least five winners of the Pulitzer Prize and more Rhodes Scholars than any other university in the Big Ten. MSU pioneered the studies of packaging, hospitality business, telecommunication, and music therapy. Today its study-abroad program is the largest of any single-campus university in the country, offering more than 200 programs in more than 60 countries on all continents including Antarctica. It is considered to be one of America's Public Ivy universities, which recognizes top public research universities in the United States.Greene, Howard and Greene, Matthew. The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities (New York: HarperCollins, 2001). ISBN 0-06-093459-X.

Following the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. After World War II, the number of students tripled as the institution became a major university. Today, MSU is the eighth-largest university in the United States, with 46,045 students and 2,954 faculty members.

MSU's Division I sports teams are called the Spartans. They compete in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except ice hockey, in which the team is part of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. MSU's football team won the Rose Bowl in 1954, 1956, and 1988 and boasts six national championships. Its men's basketball team won the NCAA National Championship in 1979 and 2000. The MSU men's ice hockey has won national titles in 1966, 1986, and 2007.

History

main: History of Michigan State University

Agriculture school

Land Grant pioneer

In 1860, Joseph R. Williams became acting lieutenant governor"Joseph R. Williams Biographical Information". MSU University Archives and Historical Collection Accessed March 5, 2008. and helped pass the Reorganization Act of 1861. This gave the College a four-year curriculum and the power to grant master's degrees. Under the act, a newly-created body, known as the State Board of Agriculture, took over from the State Board of Education in running the institution. The College changed its name to State Agricultural College, and its first class graduated in the same year. However, there was no time for an elaborate graduation ceremony: the Civil War had just begun, and the first alumni enlisted to the Union Army. The following year, Abraham Lincoln signed the First Morrill Act of 1862 to support similar colleges, making the Michigan school a national model. Williams never witnessed the cause to which he had dedicated so much of his life, having taken ill and died the previous year.