Since 2019, U.S. News & World Report has ranked university programs that promote positive learning outcomes and successful undergraduate student experiences. For the 8th consecutive year, Michigan State University has been one of the top public universities recognized for its learning communities. Lyman Briggs College is a key factor driving this ranking.
We invite you to read a message from Dean Kendra Spence Cheruvelil—a passionate advocate for student success, community, and opportunity—who shares her perspective on our college's mission and impacts.
Mission: Lyman Briggs College is a residential, undergraduate, science-focused learning community dedicated to innovative and inclusive teaching, research, and engagement with the sciences in their diverse human, social, and global contexts.
One of MSU's big ideas: An interdisciplinary, residential, degree-granting college in the sciences. Since 1967, Lyman Briggs College has fostered a community of students, faculty and staff who are passionate about science and its place in society.
At Lyman Briggs College, students learn by doing. Through research with faculty, peer leadership, global experiences, mentoring, and a close-knit learning community, our students engage in educational experiences that deepen learning, strengthen belonging, and prepare graduates for life after college.
Lyman Briggs College (LBC) is the science-focused residential college for undergraduate students at Michigan State University. The college was founded in 1967 to bridge the cultures of the sciences and the humanities and social sciences. Today, we offer an innovative and integrated curriculum, cutting across traditional fields of study, and exploring the sciences in their social, human, and global contexts.
LBC students and faculty enjoy the “best of both worlds,” experiencing many of the advantages of a small liberal-arts college paired with the opportunities afforded by a world-class, research-intensive, public university. Student housing and dining, faculty and staff offices, classrooms and laboratories are all under one roof in Holmes Hall. LBC is an undergraduate student-focused, inclusive and collaborative community of approximately 2,000 students and 65 employees, including teaching-focused academic specialists, tenure-system faculty, academic advisors, and professional staff.
LBC students, affectionately called “Briggsies,” live and learn together in Holmes Hall their first year. They build a core science foundation in LBC’s innovative biology, chemistry, physics, and math courses before taking upper-level STEM and courses in other MSU colleges. They complement these STEM courses with a series of interdisciplinary courses in Science and Society that explore the relationships between the sciences and the arts, humanities, and social sciences, which results in scientists and citizens who think critically.
We foster curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving through evidence-based and inclusive teaching. LBC students also have numerous opportunities to participate in high-impact learning experiences such as being an undergraduate learning assistant, engaging with course-based and independent research, and Lyman Briggs education abroad and away programs.
LBC continues to enhance student success through inclusive and interdisciplinary teaching and advising. We aim to raise support for high-impact learning experiences, which deeply engage students and transform lives. By providing personalized support and equitable access to these opportunities, LBC will help all students succeed and prepare for their future careers.
Goal: $6 million
LBC’s faculty are true teacher-scholars who center the student experience while achieving scholarly excellence. Investing in faculty through endowed positions and honorifics strengthens our foundation of excellence and drives our vision to transform what it means to be a scientist. By elevating our faculty’s work, we are shaping a legacy of excellence that will transform education’s future.
Goal: $3.4 million
LBC was founded as, and continues to be, a home for interdisciplinarity. We are expanding interdisciplinary research that fosters collaboration and includes diverse experiences and perspectives in local to global discovery and applications. Our research initiatives will drive innovative projects, support student and faculty knowledge production and application, and strengthen MSU’s leadership in academic excellence and global impact.
Goal: $1.2 million
As MSU’s largest residential, degree-granting college, LBC is dedicated to ensuring that everyone sees themselves as a Briggsie and that all who are admitted are provided with what they need to thrive. We’ll expand secondary-school outreach to inspire future scientists, enhance Briggs’ first-year experience with programs in career exploration and leadership development, and improve facilities to recruit, retain and empower diverse talent.
Goal: $1.4 million
LBC continues to enhance student success through inclusive and interdisciplinary teaching and advising. We aim to raise support for high-impact learning experiences, which deeply engage students and transform lives. By providing personalized support and equitable access to these opportunities, LBC will help all students succeed and prepare for their future careers.
Goal: $6 million
LBC’s faculty are true teacher-scholars who center the student experience while achieving scholarly excellence. Investing in faculty through endowed positions and honorifics strengthens our foundation of excellence and drives our vision to transform what it means to be a scientist. By elevating our faculty’s work, we are shaping a legacy of excellence that will transform education’s future.
Goal: $3.4 million
LBC was founded as, and continues to be, a home for interdisciplinarity. We are expanding interdisciplinary research that fosters collaboration and includes diverse experiences and perspectives in local to global discovery and applications. Our research initiatives will drive innovative projects, support student and faculty knowledge production and application, and strengthen MSU’s leadership in academic excellence and global impact.
Goal: $1.2 million
As MSU’s largest residential, degree-granting college, LBC is dedicated to ensuring that everyone sees themselves as a Briggsie and that all who are admitted are provided with what they need to thrive. We’ll expand secondary-school outreach to inspire future scientists, enhance Briggs’ first-year experience with programs in career exploration and leadership development, and improve facilities to recruit, retain and empower diverse talent.
Goal: $1.4 million