page_title: Michigan State University
section_title: Campus
hierarchical_section_title: Michigan State University / Campus
context_page_description: Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. MSU was founded in 1855 and served as a model for land-grant universities later created under the Morrill Act of 1862. The university was founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, one of the country's first institutions of higher education to teach scientific agriculture. After the introduction of the Morrill Act, the college became coeducational and expanded its curriculum beyond agriculture. Today, MSU is one of the largest universities in the United States and has approximately 634,300 living alumni worldwide.
  U.S. News & World Report ranks its graduate programs the best in the U.S. in elementary teacher's education, secondary teacher's education, industrial and organizational psychology, rehabilitation counseling, African history, supply chain logistics and nuclear physics in 2019. MSU pioneered the studies of packaging, hospitality business, supply chain management, and communication sciences. Michigan State is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".
context_section_description: MSU's sprawling campus is in East Lansing, Michigan. The campus is perched on the banks of the Red Cedar River. Development of the campus started in 1856 with three buildings: a multipurpose College Hall building, a dormitory later called "Saints' Rest", and a barn. Today, MSU's contiguous campus consists of 5,300 acres (21 km²), 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) of which are developed. There are 563 buildings: 107 for academics, 131 for agriculture, 166 for housing and food service, and 42 for athletics. Overall, the university has 22,763,025 square feet (2,114,754.2 m²) of indoor space. Connecting it all is 26 miles (42 km) of roads and 100 miles (160 km) of sidewalks. MSU also owns 44 non-campus properties, totaling 22,000 acres (89 km²) in 28 different counties.
  In early 2017, construction of a $22.5 million solar project began at five parking lots on campus. MSU's solar carport array is constructed on five of the university's largest commuter parking lots and covers 5,000 parking spaces. The solar carports are designed to deliver a peak power of 10.5 Megawatts and an annual energy of 15 million kilowatt-hours, which is enough to power approximately 1,800 Michigan homes. The solar carport project was recognized at the Smart Energy Decisions Innovation Summit 2018, earning the Onsite Renewable Energy award for “The Largest Carport Solar Array in North America.”
caption: MSU's main campus lies north of the CN Railway and south of Michigan and Grand River Avenues.
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