Featured MSU Engaged Scholars
Michigan State University Named "Engaged Campus of the Year"
Michigan State University has been selected by a national team of reviewers as Michigan's 2014 Engaged Campus of the Year.
The honor goes to an institution of higher education annually for exemplary commitment to education of students for civic and social responsibility, genuine and sustained investment in community relationships, and commitment to service-learning and civic engagement opportunities for students across all disciplines.
The award was presented on April 30 at Michigan's Giving and Volunteering Celebration at the State Capitol. The program featured Governor Rick Snyder, State Representative Sam Singh, and Robin Lynn Grinnell, Michigan Campus Compact Executive Director ...
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- Sheryl Kubiak, Ph.D., LMSW, ACSW
- Professor, School of Social Work
- College of Social Science
Partnering to Create the Wayne County Mental Health Court
Mental illness among men and women arrested for crimes—from misdemeanors to felonies—is a significant challenge for the justice system. Individuals with serious mental illness often find themselves cycling repeatedly through the system, going through the steps of arrest, court, incarceration, and return to community without ever addressing the root cause of the unlawful behavior.
In Wayne County, which includes the City of Detroit, community leaders in the criminal justice system and the social services sector recognized that the courts were overburdened with persons with mental illness. They began working together to create a specialty court that provides solutions for jail overcrowding, costs, and treatment for some of the county's most vulnerable citizens.
Sheryl Kubiak's expertise is contributing to a collaborative community effort that offers an alternative to mainstream solutions in the state's busiest local court system ...
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MSU Priorities
Community and Economic Development in the 21st Century
- Young-Sook Lee, Ph.D.
- Young-Sook Lee, Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor, School of Planning, Design, and Construction
- College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Helping Businesses Use Workplace Design to Impact their Bottom Line
Many studies have shown that the design of a workplace has an impact on employee performance and business efficiency. According to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the oldest and largest professional organization for interior designers, "Managers recognize that employee satisfaction and productivity rise in well-designed workplaces," and that "design...adds to the bottom line by stimulating sales, attracting and retaining customers or clients, and transforming rooms into destinations." But often, design principles are very industry-specific, making it challenging for a broad range of professionals in the design industry to access comprehensive data applicable to various sectors of the workforce, especially the knowledge sector.
Because knowledge sector workers spend much of their time thinking and creating, it is necessary for these workers to have work spaces that foster creativity and collaboration. These spaces are called "knowledge workplaces."
Young Lee, Assistant Professor in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction, has been studying workplace environment as it relates to employee performance since working on her doctorate in interior design at the University of Minnesota's College of Design. According to Lee, workplace design provides challenges unique from other design areas, such as hospitality, institutional, and healthcare design ...
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