The Parent and Family Development office was built because we recognize the extraordinary impact our family support systems can have on our Spartan’s experiences. Spartan Families can be a resource to not just your student but many students by mentoring and motivating, hiring interns or recent grads, helping recruit future Spartans, and making an investment to MSU with your own philanthropy.

We know there is a significant correlation between student’s who are highly engaged with academic resources and improved academic outcomes. As a resource, we want to be intentional with our efforts to engage families in the Spartan Network in order to build awareness around ways to support health and wellness, academic success and career development programs.  

The decision to frame this discussion around Academic Advising was based on conversations with our council of parent ambassadors who have been philanthropic to MSU and feedback from our Spring Semester Spartan Supporter Survey. Thank you to those of you have given your time to participate in these surveys and/or donated to funds across campus.  We sincerely appreciate all you do to support MSU and our Spartans.

This conversation features: 

Mark Largent, the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education. Mark oversees undergraduate academic policies, academic advising and facilitates institutional wide initiatives focused on enhancing undergraduate learning.   

 Jonelle Golding, the Interim Director of University Advising. Jonelle is tasked with moving the university toward a Proactive Advising approach in serving our students through ongoing professional development, collaborative activities and assessment of academic advising from the students’ perspective to inform change throughout campus.

Kat Cooper English, the Chief of Communications for Student Life & Engagement, the department that touches nearly every aspect campus by providing support and auxiliary services to MSU students, the campus community and guests. Comprised of six departments, the division’s goal is to deliver outstanding Spartan experiences in all its endeavors by following a core set of values that guides all business practices and decisions.