MSU Broad College of Business Working to Realize 2030 Vision

With about 5,000 students and more than 140 faculty, Michigan State University Broad College of Business (Broad) is recognized as among the top 25 undergraduate business programs globally by U.S. News & World Report. It has a mission to develop transformational leaders who will positively impact organizations and the society. It does this by disseminating knowledge collaboratively, and fostering a culture of excellence and integrity.

Broad is currently pursuing a strategic plan, Broad 2030, to guide it in achieving its vision of becoming a top-tier business school. The plan is made up of five key initiatives: empowering lives through undergraduate education, promoting lifelong learning through graduate education, nurturing a culture of belonging and success, strengthening impactful scholarship and research, and enhancing outreach and engagement. Each of these builds on the success of Broad 2020, which the college implemented from 2015 to 2020.

So far in 2022, Broad has executed two major projects that align with the last two key strategic initiatives, strengthening both scholarship and research and enhancing engagement. For the former, Broad’s objective is to leverage the expertise of its faculty to build upon its knowledge base, address complex societal problems, and nurture the next generation of leaders. Toward this aim, in February 2022, Broad opened the Behavioral Lab at Eppley Center. This is the college’s first behavioral research lab, and it is exclusively available to Broad faculty and doctoral students for their study of consumer behavior, decision making, and teams research, among other topics that combine human interaction and business.

Built for flexibility, the lab has an open design that allows researchers to configure it to suit their research needs. It also has individual computer stations, spaces for group study, and private rooms for interviews. All these facilitate different kinds of research. For example, marketing researchers may bring study participants into the lab and perform tests on them as a unit or split them into groups and simultaneously test each group independently. The lab even has a reception area where study participants can check in and wait as the rooms are set up for their study.

Before Broad built the lab, faculty and doctoral students had to reserve other rooms such as computer labs and breakout rooms to conduct their studies. Now, with the Behavioral Lab, they have their own dedicated research space to study consumer behavior and its broad implications in business. In the future, the college plans to add equipment for specialized research such as virtual reality goggles and devices that track physiological changes such as skin conductance and blood pressure.

For enhancing outreach and engagement, Broad’s objective is to create and deepen relationships with external organizations to realize additional value for its clients and stakeholders. For example, in January 2022, Broad announced a partnership with DECA to help high school students in their transition to college and to positively influence their business careers. DECA is a global nonprofit with over 160,000 members. Broad partnered with Michigan DECA, a local chapter with members for local high schools.

To launch the partnership, Broad hosted a two-day DECA Leadership Conference that brought together over 330 students from 35 high schools to interact with corporate leaders as well as Michigan State University faculty and students. The engagements were spread out over the course of several sessions. These covered various topics including admissions at Michigan State University, college preparation, and higher education opportunities abroad. During the conference’s breakout session, Michigan State University’s admissions officer Terrene Brown even announced that students in attendance who eventually gained admission into the university would get a $500 scholarship.

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