Michigan State University’s James Madison College has produced a Texas Supreme Court chief justice, a university president and a legion of litigators, legislators and academics since its founding in 1967.

This year marks 50 years since the residential college on MSU’s campus was founded, one of three such programs that took root in the late 1960s. Today, more than 250 Madison graduates work across state government, according to the college’s alumni database, not including lobbyists and lawyers. And alumni are making a difference beyond the Great Lakes state.

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Michael McConnell, another alum, served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit before joining the faculty at Stanford Law School. Despite graduating four decades ago, he’s still able to rattle off the authors and thinkers he studied during his time as a student.

“(James Madison) is, I think, an extraordinary island of rigorous education, really comparable to best education you can get anywhere in the world,” McConnell said.