Michigan State University was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, twenty years after the Michigan Territory became a state. It was the first college in the United States to teach scientific agriculture.
In 1862, the school became a land-grant institution under the Morrill Act of 1862. The school’s current name was adopted in 1965, when the MSU Board of Trustees changed it from Michigan Agricultural College. Today, MSU has more than 100 undergraduate majors and 200 graduate programs.
In 1919, the college became coeducational and in 1957 it became a public institution. In 1963, MSU began offering graduate programs and opened its doors to students from across America and around the world.
The university is organized into 19 colleges and schools offering more than 150 majors and minors. MSU offers doctoral degrees in agriculture, communication sciences, clinical psychology, education, engineering and human medicine. The university’s main campus in East Lansing covers 1,200 acres with 650 buildings valued at $2 billion.
Today, MSU has close to 50,000 students attending classes on its campus in East Lansing or at one of its many satellite locations around the state. The university has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion and employs more than 8,000 faculty members who work with undergraduate and graduate students on over 200 degree programs offered at more than 100 major fields of study.
