Bath - It's Friday morning and Jane Briggs-Bunting is sitting in the middle of her new condominium surrounded by open space, a few boxes filled with pictures and a rocking chair - one of the two places to sit in her canary yellow living room.
The cable guy just left and MSU's new School of Journalism director is trying to figure out how the new system functions.
She's still waiting for the moving company to deliver some more of her furniture as she begins this interview.
"You get to the point when you are in chaos," Briggs-Bunting said. "I'm leaving everything I know - my husband's not here, my horse isn't here.
"I'll miss my chickens, they lay good eggs."
Besides getting used to the fire engine red-flowered wallpaper in her bathroom, Briggs-Bunting also will be adjusting to her new life as a Spartan starting Aug. 1 when she officially begins working.
Briggs-Bunting replaces Steve Lacy, who served as director for the school for the past five years and will be returning as a faculty member.
"I'll probably run in there and just sit and listen to people," she said. "I'm a member of a team."
But at first Briggs-Bunting wasn't sure she would fit in at MSU because she didn't have a doctoral degree.
"Actually I ignored the ad," she said. "I said 'They wouldn't want me.'"
She came around once she realized there was a balance of academia and real world experience ingrained in members of the journalism faculty.
Briggs-Bunting is not new to the world of academia. For the past 24 years she has worked for Oakland University in a variety of positions including director of the school's journalism program, professor and adviser to the student-run Oakland Post. This year she was inducted into the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.
Prior to that, she worked as a general assignment and cops reporter for the Detroit Free Press and as a reporter for People and Life magazines. Briggs-Bunting received her bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Detroit Mercy.
"She has a strong record as a teacher and as an administrator, and someone who is committed to high standards in journalism and defending First Amendment rights," said James Spaniolo, dean of the College of Communication Arts and Sciences.
And Briggs-Bunting makes no joke of her passion for the First Amendment.
"The First Amendment is my heart and soul," she said, adding the right to be free and question the government is a powerful tool for the press and the people.
While adviser at The Oakland Post, newspaper members challenged a closed meeting held by the university's Board of Trustees. The case is still awaiting decision by the Oakland County Circuit Court.
"That's the hard thing about leaving the paper - leaving the students," Briggs-Bunting said.
When she begins working at MSU, Briggs-Bunting plans on teaching media law and computer-assisted reporting courses.
"My job is to teach students," she said. "I don't want you to graduate and work at McDonald's."
But MSU students can expect classes taught by Briggs-Bunting to be rigorous, said Rebecca Wyatt, Oakland Post editor in chief and a former student of Briggs-Bunting.
"She has a reputation of having a tough class," Wyatt said. "(The law class) was a very demanding class.
"The knowledge you walked away with that class was wonderful."
