A new chapter at Michigan State University begins July 1, 2026, as the College of Arts & Letters and Residential College in the Arts and Humanities (RCAH) officially integrate, creating new opportunities for students, faculty, and the campus community while strengthening the arts and humanities at MSU.
The integration, approved by the MSU Board of Trustees in June 2025, brings together the broad academic programs and creative resources of the College of Arts & Letters with RCAH’s distinctive community-engaged residential education model.
With a shared commitment to creativity, critical inquiry, and community engagement, the move marks a new chapter at MSU — one focused not on change for its own sake, but on expanding access, increasing collaboration, and building on the strengths that already define both communities.
“The College of Arts & Letters and RCAH share a deep commitment to creativity, critical inquiry, community engagement, and the study of what it means to be human. This integration allows us to build on that shared mission…”
Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters
“The College of Arts & Letters and RCAH share a deep commitment to creativity, critical inquiry, community engagement, and the study of what it means to be human,” said Thomas Stubblefield, Dean of the College of Arts & Letters. “This integration allows us to build on that shared mission while strengthening MSU’s role as a place where the arts and humanities help students understand culture, history, language, ethics, creativity, and community in ways that prepare them to lead meaningful lives and make a difference in the world.”
Building on Shared Strengths
As of July 1, 2026, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities will transition to a new name — the School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities — while maintaining the familiar RCAH acronym and mission that have defined the program since its founding in 2007.
At the same time, much of what students value most about RCAH will remain unchanged when the integration formally takes effect July 1. The residential college will continue to be located in Snyder-Phillips Hall, where its classrooms, creative spaces, faculty, and close-knit living-learning community have long fostered a distinctive educational experience. Its curriculum, arts and humanities major, and commitment to community-engaged learning also will remain intact.
The residential component of the RCAH experience also remains unchanged. As one of MSU’s nationally recognized living-learning communities, RCAH will continue to offer a two-year residential experience in Snyder-Phillips Hall, where students live and learn together in an environment intentionally designed around the arts and humanities.
This continued emphasis on RCAH’s distinctive identity is central to the integration effort. In approving the transition, the MSU Board of Trustees called for preserving RCAH’s mission and strengths, including continuity of academic programming, strong support for students, faculty, and staff, and the promotion of collaboration and academic excellence.
What changes is the breadth of opportunity.
RCAH students will gain greater access to the College of Arts & Letters’ wide range of arts and humanities courses, programming, creative spaces, research support, and student-focused resources. College of Arts & Letters students, in turn, will benefit from increased access to RCAH’s immersive, community-engaged educational model and new opportunities for collaboration that connect artistic and humanistic work to public life.
Together, the integration creates new possibilities for interdisciplinary learning across writing, languages, cultures, visual arts, theatre, literature, philosophy, community engagement, and more, allowing students to connect ideas across disciplines and apply their learning in meaningful ways.
Expanding Opportunities for Students
At its core, the integration is about students and how an arts and humanities education can best prepare them to navigate an increasingly interconnected world.
RCAH students will benefit from the College of Arts & Letters’ infrastructure and resources, including increased opportunities for scholarships, research, and creative activity, and access to faculty expertise across disciplines.
At the same time, College of Arts & Letters’ students will have greater exposure to RCAH courses, programming, and approaches to community engagement that encourage learning beyond the classroom.
The integration also creates more opportunities for collaboration among students and faculty across academic areas, strengthening pathways for interdisciplinary projects, performances, exhibitions, research initiatives, and public-facing work.
The result is an arts and humanities ecosystem that is more connected, collaborative, and responsive to student interests.
“RCAH’s identity has always been rooted in its close-knit residential community, its commitment to engaged learning, and its belief that students learn deeply when they connect ideas, creativity, and community engagement. Those strengths will continue to define RCAH,” said Scot Yoder, Director of the School of Residential Community-Engaged Arts and Humanities. “This integration allows us to offer this residential living-learning option to any student with a major in the College of Arts & Letters. We are excited that many incoming students from programs such as Art History, Studio Art, Graphic Design, English, Film Studies, Linguistics, and Theatre have already opted to join the living-learning community in the fall.”
“This integration allows us to offer this residential living-learning option to any student with a major in the College of Arts & Letters.”
Scot Yoder, Director of RCAH
For RCAH alumni, the integration also represents continuity. The close-knit, community-engaged educational experience that shaped generations of students — from the residential model and faculty mentorship to the emphasis on creativity, collaboration, and civic engagement — will continue to define RCAH’s identity.
As RCAH enters this next chapter, alumni can continue to look back on a vibrant and distinctive educational community while knowing future students will benefit from expanded opportunities through its connection to the College of Arts & Letters.
Strengthening Communities Through the Arts and Humanities
The benefits of integration extend beyond campus.
Both the College of Arts & Letters and RCAH have long emphasized the public impact of the arts and humanities — whether through theatre productions, exhibitions, language and cultural programs, public scholarship, storytelling, ethics, civic dialogue, or community-engaged work.
By bringing together the College of Arts & Letters’ broad network of programs and partnerships with RCAH’s longstanding commitment to experiential and community-based learning, the integration creates opportunities to deepen MSU’s engagement with communities across Michigan and beyond.
Students increasingly will have opportunities to see how the arts and humanities can address real-world challenges, foster cultural understanding, strengthen communities, and create meaningful public conversations.
At a time when many of society’s most pressing issues require empathy, communication, creativity, ethical reasoning, cultural awareness, and historical understanding, the arts and humanities are more essential than ever.
“By bringing together the strengths of the College of Arts & Letters and RCAH, MSU is investing in a stronger and more connected future for arts and humanities education, one that expands opportunity for students and deepens the university’s impact in communities across Michigan and beyond.”
Laura Lee McIntyre, MSU Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
“The arts and humanities are essential to the mission of a global public research university. They help students think critically, communicate effectively, better understand cultures and histories, engage ethically, and imagine new possibilities for our shared future,” said Laura Lee McIntyre, Ph.D., MSU Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. “By bringing together the strengths of the College of Arts & Letters and RCAH, MSU is investing in a stronger and more connected future for arts and humanities education, one that expands opportunity for students and deepens the university’s impact in communities across Michigan and beyond.”
Looking Ahead
When students arrive for the Fall 2026 semester, much about the College of Art & Letters and RCAH will feel familiar, with the same commitment to creativity, critical inquiry, and engaged learning.
But students also will enter a future shaped by expanded opportunities — one where connections between disciplines are stronger, creative partnerships are more accessible, and the arts and humanities have an even broader presence across campus and in surrounding communities.
For Michigan State University, the integration represents more than an organizational change. It is an investment in what the arts and humanities make possible: deeper understanding, stronger communities, and new ways of imagining and building a better future.
By Kim Popiolek and Jenny Jimenez
