Erin Carter, Michigan State University and East Lansing community liaison. Photo by G.L. Kohuth

Click on an image to view a larger or high-resolution version.

Even though the community liaison position has been around for four years, Erin Carter has just completed her first year in the position. Serving as the single unit of communication between Student Affairs and Services, the Office of Governmental Affairs and the City of East Lansing, Carter’s first year has brought many changes to both her routine and the position’s duties.

Carter moved to East Lansing after working in student life at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. While making sure to provide all the information a student could need while living in East Lansing, she has been trying to get to know the area as well.  “Being new to the area, I’ve had to learn a lot of what I’m trying to teach students myself,” Carter said. “It’s been a really easy transition but also a very fun one.”

A few of the projects that Carter works on as community liaison include working in the neighborhoods with long-term residents and students, ice cream block parties, away-game tailgates, and even a curbside recycling program that helped educate students about the free service and what can be recycled. “We try to bring people together so they get to know each other in a fun, social, and up-beat environment” she said.

‘College Life: East Lansing’, formerly ‘Off-Campus Living’, is the Web site that Carter uses to reach out to students and the community and provide them with any information that would be necessary for living in East Lansing. Carter has been working to make the outreach to students better by rebranding ‘Off-Campus Living’ to ‘College Life: East Lansing’ placing emphasis on life at MSU in the city of East Lansing. To see all the information Carter has gathered about life in East Lansing visit www.collegelifeel.msu.edu.

###