I graduated from LBC as a pre-medical student in 1976, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology. Although I had not requested placement services in anticipation of my graduation, I was approached by a major pharmaceutical company who offered me my choice of jobs as a research assistant. This meant that I had an excellent job BEFORE I had even graduated! After several successful years, I resumed my plan to attend medical school and subsequently earned my Doctor of Medicine. I also earned a Masters Degree in Public Health. The bottom line for me is this: LBC provided me with an excellent educational foundation that openened numerous doors for me, and that has ensured my success in all my professional endeavors.
My experience at Lyman Briggs laid a strong foundation for everything I do today - professionally and personally. The ability to interact with like minded students, professors who truly cared what you learned, and staff who were interested in the whole person was an enriching experience. It was the way Lyman Briggs' focused on balance that has served me so well and in many different ways. The emphasize on humanities as much as science and the devotion to training a student for a life time of learning continues to motivate me today. I am not doing anything related to my degree today, yet I credit my 4 years at Briggs with providing me with the tools to do everything I've done these past 26 years. It is an incredible institution.
This is a wonderful program offering students a wonderful educational experience. It is not often that in a sea of many one is made to feel like an individual as is possible through LBC
More the n25 years after graduating from Lyman Briggs College I get respect from fellow MSU graduates.Many individuals enter the program ,but that number far exceeds those that complete it.The residential experience there has helped me personally as well as professionally>LBC staff remain some ofthe best at the university. jane kaminski
Lyman Briggs College provides a unique experience to science and math undergraduates. I see several key advantages of the program: 1. As a residential college, Briggs provides a sense of community and support to students who might otherwise be overwhelmed in a large state university. 2. Professors for the Briggs programs are selected because they are truly interested in teaching undergraduates. So many times a large research universities, undergraduates are treated as a necessary nuisance. At Briggs, I never felt second class to graduate students or research projects. 3. The Briggs program is designed to encourage science and math majors to broaden their intellectual horizons, and to make room in their class schedules for humanities, social sciences, art, and all of the other wonderful disciplines that highly-focused science majors sometimes miss out on.
In addition to providing an outstanding education in scientific principles, Lyman Briggs College teaches its students how to actually BE scientists, by requiring that they take courses in the history, logic and philosophy of science. In 1971 we read Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", fifteen years before Kuhn's concept of "paradigm shifts" came to be used as a teaching tool by the general public. My professor, Dr. Robert Snow, used this "paradigm shift" concept in counselling me to consider other options besides teaching Biology. In 1974 I took his advice, switched gears, and became an environmental lawyer for the newly created U.S. EPA, where I received awards as their lead counsel on the first case ever brought under Superfund and as lead counsel on the largest settlement in the history of U.S. EPA. As a "residential college" within a large university, Lyman Briggs provides a very valuable and unique educational experience.
I graduated from Lyman Briggs in May of this year. As a Lyman Briggs student, I had the priveldge of learning from passionate and dedicated professors and was able to collaborate and befriend a diverse student body. I believe that the challenging Lyman Briggs program has prepared me well as I pursue a medical career.
I am a 2002 graduate of LBC and the skills I learned at Briggs have served me well in the workplace and at graduate school. In addition to a very strong scientific academic preparation, Briggs gave me an edge on writing skills and working in small groups and teams. Sensitivity to the social implications of science and technology is key in medical school and clinical training, especially when applied to issues of patient education, informed consent, and policy.
An early alum, and 32 years later, my son is also a recent LBC grad. The fully developed picture of science in society and the broad scientific curriculum in the context of a living community with shared interests within a megaversity make LBC@MSU an experience like no other.
As a member of one of the first Lyman Briggs classes, I have found that the Lyman Briggs experience lasts a life time. The academic opportunities are phenomenal. The experiences beyond academics such as human interaction, communication, community awareness, self awareness, and building of self confidence make this environment extraordinary. The personal impact for me was so significant that, when I could share financially, I decided to "pay it forward". I established an endowed scholarship in Lyman Briggs.
For students looking at a major in the sciences, LBC is a gem within the broader MSU community. Although I am a significantly older alumnus, the program has maintained its core since I attended. That core is to produce critical thinking graduates who have skills beyond their focused area of discipline. Graduates gain not only a deep knowledge and capability of their "science focus", but also of other important areas such as societal impacts of that science. The broader education I experienced from LBC has been instrumental in my career, by allowing me to operate at a more strategic as opposed to tactical level. More recently, I have provided both formal and informal external advising and am gratified that the program has only gotten better. Faculty members, while carrying a partial appointment in other departments and carrying on research, continue to be very focused on providing an excellent educational experience to students with classroom teaching, research activities, and student mentoring.
Lyman Briggs College worked with me to give me a more hands-on and well explained perspective on the connection between science and its impact. This impact included both scientific advancement through explanation of a crystallized view of atoms, for example, and ethical implications of this advancement. LBC provided an ability to adapt more easily to the college atmosphere by allowing for a smaller environment within Michigan State University where students with scientific academic interests could quickly find a niche within the large university environment.