List was hired in August of this year to replace Steve Troost, who has been the campus planner for the past two decades.   

As a campus planner, List must gain a deep understanding of MSU’s campus and how people use it. His role is to help guide the physical development of campus, from academic buildings to bike routes.  

"I always tell people I have the best job on campus," List said. "I think I do, just because I get to see a whole bunch of different things going on, right? New projects, long range planning, just getting out and walking around."

In December of 2023, MSU’s board passed Vision 2050, which is the Integrated Facilities and Land Use Plan that lays out the goals for the physical development of campus within the next 30 years. 

"My day to day is basically making sure that the university is staying true to (Vision 2050) and guide decision-making that best suits the physical environment of the university," List said. 

The main goals of Vision 2050 include the academic and research sectors, campus life and arts and culture. List said that the university is seeking to consolidate these sectors and make campus more convenient and efficient for students, staff and faculty.

"You come to campus as a student — an undergrad student, a grad student, even staff and faculty ... how can you operate your day and have a good experience?" List said. "MSU is a beautiful place, but how can it sort of expand on that and grow? How can growth make it more efficient?"

When making these decisions about efficiency, List works with people and groups across campus from architects to the committee for public art on campus. 

Prior to coming to MSU, List was often hired by universities to work on specific projects. For example, he previously worked on a two billion dollar hospital at Ohio State University. When working on these projects, he had a different type of collaboration. 

Now, List works at MSU and is able to touch many different projects and collaborate with a much larger array of departments.

"We all are kind of in the house, so to speak," List said. "So the collaboration is just different, and it's really interesting and exciting to learn from everyone that's committed to MSU, but also really smart." 

Right now, IPF has 21 current projects listed on their website. Each is at very different stages of development. List is often involved in the beginning stages of a project's development.

"I usually am engaged in the beginning phases," he said. "So you do planning, we're kind of scoping it, figuring out what needs to go in the box, right? The Lego pieces, the program that needs to go in, where does the project go?"

List and his boss, architect Maura Donnelly, often work together when making these decisions. 

"And then it sort of starts to work its way through the standard phases of conceptual designs, schematic design, design development, construction documents, etc, (and) gets constructed," List said.

And finally, the approval stage is a significant part of each project that List has a hand in. 

"There's a bunch of different hurdles, because we're spending public money, right?" List said. "We need to be smart about how, and make sure that we're sort of checking boxes."

When making all of the design decisions for a project, List has to pay close attention to the people on campus, a process made easier by his razor scooter.

"Are we designing or planning for how we want people to use campus, or how we know they'll use campus," List said. "There's that delicate balance of those two directions. That's sort of the art and science of my job."