Michigan State University (MSU) ranks No. 32 worldwide and No. 15 in the United States in arts and humanities research performance, according to the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities for 2025-2026.
Overall, MSU ranks No. 133 in the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities listing for 2025-2026, which encompasses the top 2,250 universities across 105 countries.
“Being recognized for our arts and humanities research at Michigan State University highlights the increasingly important work done by faculty and graduate students in the College of Arts & Letters,” said Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the MSU College of Arts & Letters. “This type of visibility strengths MSU’s broader research reputation, including in arts, humanities, languages, and interdisciplinary spaces that invite us to engage deeply with the human experience and ask difficult questions.”
The Best Global Universities rankings highlight 51 subject areas based on research performance and reputation. The arts and humanities subject area ranking considers publications, citations, books, conferences, and global and regional research reputation.
“Our faculty work across disciplines, languages, and national borders, exploring how research and creative work can help build understanding in an interconnected world,” Stubblefield said. “This distinction places the MSU College of Arts & Letters among the world’s leading arts and humanities institutions.”
“Our faculty work across disciplines, languages, and national borders, exploring how research and creative work can help build understanding in an interconnected world. This distinction places the MSU College of Arts & Letters among the world’s leading arts and humanities institutions.”
Thomas Stubblefield, Dean, MSU College of Arts & Letters
Arts and humanities are essential drivers of creativity, critical thinking, and innovation, and MSU faculty and graduate students pursue research that has a growing impact locally and internationally.
“Research and creative activity are the heart of our work together in the College of Arts & Letters, and that work has profound importance for communities across East Lansing, Michigan, the U.S., and abroad,” said Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Arts & Letters. “This recognition of the valuable work done by our faculty and students is a demonstration of our collective impact.”
Recent College of Arts & Letters scholarship includes:
- Faculty awarded Fulbright U.S. Scholar Programs along with other prestigious national and international fellowships.
- Research grants given by the Mellon Foundation, National Science Foundation, NASA, U.S. Department of State, and Michigan State University.
- Engaged scholarship and community partnerships led by faculty members locally and around the world.
- Books, articles, and other publications written by faculty showing expertise on topics including art, classical studies, film, languages, linguistics, literature, teaching, theatre, philosophy, and religious studies.
“In our research, we study the world’s cultures and their modes of thought and expression, and we create new contributions to those cultures,” Fitzpatrick said. “We engage with different nations, different languages, different traditions, different communities. We ask different questions, we use different methods in seeking answers, and we produce different kinds of research and cultural experiences in those engagements.”
“This ranking reaffirms my belief in the diversity of methodologies, theoretical approaches, and disciplinary and personal backgrounds represented by research throughout the College of Arts & Letters.”
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies, MSU College of Arts & Letters
White the U.S. News & World Report ranking shows the global value of Michigan State University’s arts and humanities research, it also highlights potential opportunities for future interdisciplinary, digital, public, and community-engaged partnerships.
“This ranking reaffirms my belief in the diversity of methodologies, theoretical approaches, and disciplinary and personal backgrounds represented by research throughout the College of Arts & Letters,” Fitzpatrick said. “The more that we can do individually and collectively to build connections across the disciplinary and research boundaries that try to divide us, the stronger we’ll be as a university and in our collective research impact.”
By Beth Bonsall
