Advancing Sustainable Health Through Innovation and Exploration

For the Sustainable Health Steering Committee’s signature project, a call went out in April 2022 to University stakeholders to develop implementation proposals to advance the Sustainable Health strategic plan within at least one of the five main objectives. Nearly 110 full proposals from over ten colleges and units were received addressing all five objectives. Proposals included a synopsis of the project with core goals, initial and five-year budgets with ideation for external funding, campus and community collaborators, evidence of core infrastructure for initial implementation, and benchmarks for impacts and sustainable success.

In August 2022 the Steering Committee hosted a Retreat to share each proposal with the community and stakeholders. The Committee developed an evaluation guide and formed teams to review each proposal for strategic objective alignment, degree of impact, potential for achievement, and advancement of the university. The Committee selected 33 proposals for further review and potential partnerships and requested follow-up information on the remaining proposals.

A Synergy Symposium held in April 2023 offered authors of highly rated proposals the opportunity to present and engage more of the MSU campus or consider joining forces with other proposals to increase reach and impact.

Now pared down to 16 proposals under consideration, the final proposals reflect research, practice, education, outreach, development, and administration.  Where appropriate, some proposals were forwarded to Research and Innovation for consideration of Strategic Partnership Grant startup funding while others are under review by Outreach and Engagement for identification of potential community or government collaboration. All proposals were screened for alignment with other pillars and then shared with University Advancement for alignment with potential donors and the upcoming capital campaign.

With this work we hope to enhance quality of life for people everywhere by comprehensively leveraging expertise and research activity to improve health and the systems that affect health.

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