The values-base planning process brought to the fore a deep commitment to creating community through collaboration. Many units are engaged in collaborative efforts within the College and across the University. Still, much needs to be done to create structures and rewards for collaborative work. The Epistemic Exclusion initiative discussed above and the Center for Interdisciplinarity are two ways the College is attempting to create the infrastructure to recognize and reward collaboration. Here we mention three specific initiatives that put our shared commitment to collaboration into practice:
Food@MSU
As we discussed last year, the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), the College of Communication Arts and Sciences (ComArtSci), and the College of Arts & Letters (CAL) are collaborating to advance the research profile of Michigan State University in the holistic study of food. Led by three signature research centers, the Center for Regional Food Systems (CANR), the Health & Risk Communication Center (ComArtSci), the Center for Interdisciplinarity (CAL), this innovative partnership is advancing a vision of engaged, participatory research rooted in the deepest commitments of the land-grant mission.
Media Arts Collaborative
With ComArtSci, the College of Music, and the MSU Libraries we continue to support collaborative projects between the colleges that enrich the undergraduate learning experience and provide faculty opportunities to work together on innovative media arts projects. We are redoubling our efforts to do collaborative fundraising on an expanded vision of the Media Arts Collaborative that would provide infrastructure and resources for an endowed director, faculty collaboration grants, and faculty mentored student-led media arts projects.
Transformative Justice Initiative
With the College of Human Medicine (CHM) and CANR, we are developing a transformative justice approach to addressing issues of relationship violence and sexual misconduct (RVSM) that are trauma-informed and survivor centric. Expanding on the success of the Transformative Justice Speaker Series, the Colleges have partnered to hire Xhercis Méndez, co-founder of the Transformative Justice Lansing Collective, as a consultant to formulate a method to address the conditions that make this violence possible. This partnership aims to establish a leading-edge approach to RVSM that will model best practices for other universities facing these issues.