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• Lansing A to Z
  • Points of Pride
  • Greater Lansing Life

• Lansing A to Z
• Points of Pride
• Greater Lansing Life

Points of Pride

Wow! That's Lansing!

Just look around! Our region’s rich history – and a host of current happenings – gives us tons to talk about. Make it your mission to share some of our points of pride with other people:

• The Greater Lansing region is home to five of the fastest growing private companies in the country: FinCor Holdings, ICS Marketing Support Services, Liquid Web, TechSmith Corporation, and Two Men and a Truck.
• Ingham County residents are among the most tech-savvy in the country, according to a USA TODAY study. Some 42 percent are so-called “early adopters” of the latest technology – well above the national average of 29 percent.
• Lansing suburb Haslett is one of BusinessWeek’s 50 best places in America to raise children. The Lansing suburb came in 42nd; Douglas (23rd) and Galesburg (49th) were the only other Michigan cities to make the list.
• Stevie Wonder was trained in classical piano at Lansing’s Michigan School for the Blind. Wonder, who was born in Saginaw and raised in Detroit, has recorded more than 30 top 10 hits and won 25 Grammy Awards – a record for a solo artist.
• The Lansing-built Cadillac CTS is Motor Trend’s 2008 Car of the Year, topping a field of 18 contenders that included the Audi TT, the Honda Accord, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, the Mini Cooper and the Scion xB.
• Our region is a hub of finance and insurance activity – and home to seven major insurance carriers (Accident Fund, Auto-Owners, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Delta Dental of Michigan, Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan, Jackson National Life, and Michigan Millers).
• Michigan State University’s nuclear research program ranks 2nd only to MIT’s.

Greater Lansing: Acting local, thinking global

Did you know the Greater Lansing region’s reach extends around the globe? We’re smack in the middle of America’s heartland, but area companies ship their products and services worldwide, and area colleges and universities send their students and scholars almost everywhere. In all, our region’s reach extends to more than 130 different countries:

• TechSmith Corporation’s software products, including Camtasia Studio® and SnagIt®, are sold in 30 countries and are available in five languages.
• Web hosting provider LiquidWeb Inc. provides its products, including Windows and Linux dedicated servers and virtual private servers, to companies in more than 100 countries worldwide.
• General Motors Corporation sells its vehicles in almost every country in the world, and Lansing-built GM vehicles are shipped to 43 different countries. General Motors had its second-best global sales year ever in 2007, setting records in China, India and other countries.
• Spartan Motors provides key chassis components for the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles used to protect U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Demmer Corporation also builds key components for a number of military vehicles.
• IDV Solutions’ data visualization products are used by major corporations like British Petroleum and Reuters to track and respond to world events.
• Capital City Airport was recently designated a U.S. Port of Entry, which will allow the airport to handle international flights for the first time. The airport will open a permanent customs facility by 2009.
• Michigan State University and Lansing Community College’s study-abroad programs are among the largest in the United States – more than 3,000 students from the two schools studied in more than 60 countries on all continents during the 2006-2007 year.

Greater Lansing: Citius, Altius, Fortius

With the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing taking place in August, we’re reminded of the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius—or Faster, Higher, Stronger. It’s always nice to be #1, and the Greater Lansing region is noteworthy for a number of firsts and bests. They include the following:

• The Christman Company’s downtown Lansing headquarters is the first building in the world to receive two platinum certifications from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The energy-efficient building will save the company an estimated $40,000 a year in energy costs.
• Clinton County is the state’s #1 mint producer and among the top mint producers in the country. Mint oil is used in a variety of products, including candy, cough drops, shampoo, toothpaste—and, of course, chewing gum. A single pound of mint oil will flavor 135,000 sticks of gum.
• Emergent BioSolutions’ BioThrax® is the first—and only—anthrax vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
• Lansing native Alexa Canady was the first African-American woman to practice neurosurgery in the United States. Canady, who is among the nation’s top pediatric neurosurgeons, was director of neurosurgery at Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and a professor at Wayne State University until 2001.
• Lansing’s Ransom Eli Olds—the founder of Oldsmobile—was the first person to mass-produce automobiles. He also invented the gas-powered lawn mower.
• East Lansing became the nation’s first municipality to adopt a gay rights antidiscrimination measure when it did so in 1972.
• Lansing’s Thomas M. Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the United States.
• MSU’s record of Rhodes Scholars—now at 16—has led the Big Ten for 25 years.

Have we missed something you like to brag about? To submit your own points of pride, click here.