Different seasons present new environmentally related problems and opportunities. Here are a few easy tips, provided in part by MSU Sustainability, about the best ways to pursue an eco-friendly summer.
Be Spartan Green by doing your part for MSU and the Earth!
Stay hydrated on hot days
Ditch disposable water bottles. Remember to bring a reusable bottle to campus and utilize one of MSU’s many water refill stations.
Enjoy the daylight
Lighting consumes 27 to 43 percent of the electricity used in a typical commercial building. Take advantage of sunny summer days and reduce your energy consumption by using natural light when possible. You can also use a mirror to magnify available light sources.Continue Reading… Go Green for the environment
Get a free scoop of delicious Dairy Store ice cream Tuesday, July 28! The Spartan Experience is bringing ice cream to a location near you to show appreciation for being a part of Team MSU. Save the date!
Part of being a member of the MSU community is cheering on our Spartan athletes. Faculty and staff can attend games at discounted prices. Discounts for all games only apply to season tickets. Individual tickets are purchased at public prices.
Employees eligible for discounts are faculty and staff that work a minimum of 50 percent full time and former employees that retired with full campus benefits. For these retirees up to two tickets can be purchased as well, but only spouses can receive the extra ticket.
MSU football v. Nebraska on Saturday, October 4, 2014. Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.
Football
Public $308 season tickets are discounted to $252 for faculty and staff. Closer seats have an additional fee that goes to the Spartan Fund. Season tickets are on sale now.
Men’s basketball
Seating is more limited in Breslin Center so discounts only apply to upper chair seating at $324 for 18 home games, which is subject to availability. Upper bench seating is $234. Tickets are available to purchase October 15.
Ice hockey
Tickets go on sale September 1. To attend the 20 home games, faculty and staff can purchase up to two season tickets for $240 for bench seating and $280 for chair seating. That’s a savings of $60 for either of the season tickets compared to public prices.
Faculty and staff can attend all of the regular home season games played by the above teams with the purchase of a physical $50 Go Green card. More than two cards can be purchased if desired, and with it children 8 and under can attend the events for free. Go Green cards are most easily purchased in August at Jenison Field House.
The home games of every other official MSU sport are free for everyone to attend.
Purchasing
Before buying discounted tickets, an employee verification form needs to be completed. This needs to be completed every year, even if season tickets are just being renewed. An athletic customer number is required to complete the form.
To find your customer number, purchase tickets or to have any additional questions answered, contact the Ticket Office.
Get ready to cheer on the Spartans this year. Go green!
What’s summer without a barbecue? Get out your grill and cook up some savory food to share with family and friends. Residential and Hospitality Services Senior Executive Chef Kurt Kwiatkowski offers a recipe and some tips to make the most of your summer barbecue.
MSU HR would like to thank everyone who participated in the “What’s Your Financial IQ?” challenge! To celebrate Financial Literacy Month, we teamed up with retirement vendor TIAA-CREF to quiz faculty and staff on their financial knowledge. Beginning on April 1, for 22 days five questions were added each day. The more participants played, the more they were entered to win a tablet computer.
The 1,100 participants, who ranged in age from 18 to over 65, received an average performance of 66 percent on the quiz this year. Participants self-identified their financial subject matter knowledge, ranging from “clueless” to “ready to retire.” MSU employees scored highest on questions related to taxes and lowest on questions related to retirement.
Congratulations to our winners!
Nicole Martin, Administrative Professional in Faculty and Organizational DevelopmentMichael Rich, Senior Specialist in Composite Materials and StructuresThomas Ginter, Physicist at National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab
Thanks again to TIAA-CREF for sponsoring the challenge. We hope staff and faculty learned the extent of their financial knowledge, and can study in preparation for next year’s challenge!
Take dad golfing just south of MSU’s main campus on one of Forest Akers’ two 18-hole golf courses. Those who play on June 20 or 21 on the West Course receive a free photo at The Moore Bridge.
Dads get in for free this Sunday at Potter Park Zoo, which is home to more than 160 species of animals. Learn all about the characteristics and habitats of these animals, including tigers, penguins, a Burmese python and much more.
Families can come for free to the Michigan 4-H Children’s Garden on MSU’s campus. Children can learn about the variety of plants in the garden and make something for dad.
Take dad out to the ball game to watch the Lugnuts take on the Great Lakes Loons. Get there early, because dads and kids can play catch on the field with the Lugnuts players before the game. There will be zoo animals, airbrush tattoos and more on the concourse.
Let your dad know how much you appreciate him by sharing smiles and making lasting memories.
Summer is the perfect time for MSU faculty and staff to get into the habit of biking to work.
Biking is a great way to experience the beautiful MSU campus, get exercise, go green and save on gas and parking.
Bikes locked up at the College of Engineering Building. Photo courtesy of Communications and Brand Strategy.
“You just see things you don’t get to see when you’re in a car, so I just find it a lot more fun,” said Sustainable Transportation Manager Tim Potter, a year-round bicyclist.
Biking is especially practical because CATA’s Spartan Service, which includes most MSU campus routes and allows MSU regular employees to ride CATA on-campus routes for free, does not operate in the summer. Several East Lansing routes have reduced run times as well. Read about the changes here.
Potter recommends starting with small trips and discovering different routes for beginning bike commuters. The Tri-County Bicycle Association has an updated online map that features bike-friendly streets. The MSU-specific map developed by MSU Bikes is a helpful tool as well.
Do you have too far of a commute to bike all the way to MSU? Try driving to one of MSU’s open summer lots and biking or walking from there! In the summer, lots 89, 91, 83 and 75 are free and do not require a permit. You can also make use of the two membership-based MSU bike garages located inside parking ramps to protect your bike from weather and theft.
There are now eight do-it-yourself bike repair stations on campus and even free lockers.
“You can get an assigned locker inside the IM Circle, which is like a $100 value, for no charge if you commit to being a bike commuter,” Potter said. This allows staff and faculty to shower after a hot commute. Learn how to register for a locker here.
Remember to register your bike. Improve yourself, your wallet and the Earth this summer by leaving your car behind!
Niche.com recently released its 2015 rankings for Best Campus Food, placing the Michigan State University Culinary Services dining program at No. 24 with an A+ score among traditional four-year colleges and universities in the United States. According to the rankings, Culinary Services—a department of the Division of Residential and Hospitality Services—is the top university dining services in Michigan.
The 2015 Eat at State summer hours of operation run through August 28 for the following locations:
Brody Square will be open Monday – Friday between 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.
The Vista at Shaw will be open Monday – Friday between 7 a.m. – 9 a.m., 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
A reminder to all MSU benefits-eligible faculty and staff, you have the opportunity to enroll in several voluntary employee-paid benefits programs through MSU Benefits Plus. The optional programs include Vision Insurance, Group Legal Services, Critical Illness Insurance, Long-Term Care Insurance, Auto and Home Insurance, Pet Insurance and discount shopping.
Vision, legal and critical illness insurance have an annual open enrollment period during the fall of each year. That means you can only enroll at that time each year and once you enroll, you cannot change or cancel that enrollment until the next annual open enrollment period (unless you have a qualifying life event). Other programs, like auto, home, long-term care and pet insurances allow you to enroll at anytime throughout the year.
Discounts are available year-round on the MSU Benefits Plus website. These include discounts tied to MSU departments, local businesses and many other online shopping discounts.
Keep up on all of the discount information and programs that are available through the MSU Benefits Plus page. Sign in or create an account on www.MSUBenefitsPlus.com using your MSU ZPID number and password to view your benefits programs available to you.
Every office has one: the person who saves every file they work on to their desktop as an icon. Not only does this slow response time for start-up, it puts you at risk of losing that data should your desktop machine fail. Instead, move files that you want to keep to your network file space, and if absolutely necessary, create a shortcut on your desktop to the network location. Storing your files on the network ensures that they are being backed up on a regular basis.
Sort through your documents and archive or remove those you don’t need anymore. It can be scary, like opening a file cabinet that hasn’t been opened in months–or years–and is covered with dust. Do it, though. If you don’t, every time you search, the computer has to search through all those outdated files.
To make this easier in the future, give your folders and files meaningful names. If you save a document every month with updated data, keep the base name the same every month but append the date. For example: MonthlyStatusDATE.xls. If working on a project, develop a naming convention at the start and be consistent throughout the project. That way even if players change as the project progresses, everyone can still find the information they need.
And empty your trash! If you haven’t gone back to restore it within a few days or weeks, you probably never will.
