Former MSU President Lou Anna Simon to get an office inside newly renovated historic home

EAST LANSING - Former Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon will have an office inside a historic house on campus that has recently undergone a $977,301 renovation.

Simon, who resigned as president earlier this year, will be among at least four current and former university officials with offices in the newly renovated Wills House, which is in campus’s West Circle neighborhood bordering Michigan Avenue. Planning for the project began in 2015, according to information released by the university.

Among those slated to join Simon in Wills House is her husband, Roy Simon, who serves as senior advisor to the executive vice president for administrative services, said MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant.

Simon resigned as MSU’s president on Jan. 24 after more than a decade at the helm of the university, leaving the position on the same day former university doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison on seven sexual assault charges in Ingham County Circuit Court.

Related:

People called Lou Anna Simon one of MSU's best presidents. Then came Larry Nassar.

10 key moments in Lou Anna Simon's tenure as president of Michigan State University

Simon still has a tenured professorship at the university. Her contract guarantees her 12 months of research leave immediately following her resignation as president, during which time she is receiving 100% of her base presidential salary of $750,000.

Thereafter, she can return to the faculty, receiving her full presidential salary the first year and 75% of her salary - or $562,500 - for any subsequent years "subject to annual review, salary increases and fringe benefits consistent with those available to other members of the tenured faculty."

Among other benefits, her contract also guarantees her “a suitable office in a mutually agreeable university building, along with appropriate secretarial services, computer and technology equipment, technical support, a telephone, and other necessary office tools.”

Having Simon's office in Wills House was a mutual decision made after she resigned, Guerrant said Friday afternoon.

As recently as last Friday, MSU College of Education Dean Robert Floden wrote in an email there was “nothing new to report,” concerning Simon’s return to the faculty.

Beginning last week, the State Journal began making inquiries regarding visible work happening at Wills House. Calls and emails to Infrastructure Planning and Facilitates were not returned.

MSU issued a news release about the work on Wednesday evening.

The State Journal has submitted Freedom of Information Act requests seeking communications and financial records related to the work at Wills House.

Renovations to Wills House were planned as early as 2015, according to an MSU news release, as part of a “broader set of university-wide organizational and space consolidations.”

Among the improvements were improving handicapped accessibility, new paint and flooring and an updated kitchenette with new appliances. Renovations began in November and work on the site is nearly wrapped up, Guerrant said Thursday.

In February, East Arbor Architecture posted a photo on Facebook of a snowmelt system being installed in one of the building's exterior walkways.

Gabe Santi, a Granger spokesman, confirmed Friday the company “has done some work” at Wills House.

Wills House was built in 1927 for the U.S. Weather Bureau and was donated to MSU in the 1940s. It was named for H. Merrill Wills, the meteorologist who lived in it. It formerly housed departments ranging from MSU Extension to technical services, per MSU’s news release.

The Simons will be joined in Wills House’s second floor officers by former university physician Elizabeth Alexander and Professor Emeritus Martha Hesse, Guerrant said.

The first floor of the building will be used by large teams and task forces planning university projects and writing significant grant proposals, MSU’s news release said.

Contact RJ Wolcott at (517) 377-1026 or rwolcott@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @wolcottr. Contact Eric Lacy at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.