Since its beginning, Extension in Michigan has focused on bringing knowledge-based educational programs to the people of the state to improve their lives and communities. Today's problems are very complex.
Solutions require the expertise of numerous disciplines and the collaboration of many partners.
Operating in a synergistic manner with the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and other Michigan State University units, MSU Extension extends the University's knowledge resources to all citizens of Michigan and assists them in meeting their learning needs via a variety of educational strategies, technologies and collaborative arrangements. In 1912, the Michigan Legislature authorized county boards of supervisors to appropriate funds and levy taxes to further teaching and demonstrations in Extension work. Eleven agricultural agents were named that year. In 1914, Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act, which created the Cooperative Extension System and it directed the nation's land grant universities to oversee its work. Today, Extension agents use a wide variety of information systems to deliver educational information.