East Lansing ― Michigan State University’s School of Packaging received its largest gift in history, and the money is expected to help make a massive building expansion possible.
The $47 million gift, from Charles and Jacqueline Frasier, will start the next phase of the expansion of the Packaging Building. It is expected to create modern labs and collaboration spaces, and will establish an endowed directors fund and a fellowship endowment, making MSU an attractive spot for administrative and academic talent, while providing support for master’s and doctoral researchers, according to an announcement from the university.
Endowed and expendable funds will both be made available to address immediate needs and future plans for the School of Packaging.
The $47 million is just the latest in a series of support from the Frasiers. Charles Frasier graduated from the School of Packaging in 1970. The couple was heavily involved in the first phase of updates coming to the Packaging Building, providing both the first and last donations of the phase, which ran from 2021 to 2023.
“It is difficult to envision the future of the packaging industry without the MSU School of Packaging. I am so excited to watch the immediate impact of this gift take shape in the expansion of the Packaging Building, and I am even more excited to watch the ripple effect on the packaging industry at large, which will be forever changed for the better, thanks to their generosity and their vision for the future,” MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said.
The expansion will nearly double the size of the existing building, according to the university announcement, and will provide flexible, technology-enabled classrooms meant to help with collaboration and interactive learning, shared laboratory spaces supporting interdisciplinary research, and expanded laboratory and administrative spaces.
Charles Frasier, who founded Dixie Box and Crating Company and American Box and Crating, said his packaging degree opened “all kinds of doors” for him and that it had changed his life.
“I hope that somebody cracks the code for sustainable packaging,” Chuck Frasier said. “I know we’re working on it, I know we have the right people on it, and I know a lot of materials are becoming more and more recyclable. But we still have trash mountains, and I think the answer to those trash mountains is going to come out of packaging, and it’s going to happen here at MSU.”
TMP Architecture from Kalamazoo is the architect for the expansion, and the Lansing-based Christman Company is the construction manager.
The $47 million gift is the latest contribution as a part of the university’s $4 billion Uncommon Will, Far Better World campaign, announced in 2025.
kgraham@lsj.com
@KarlyGrahamJrn
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan State graduate donates $47M for major building expansion
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
