Ever wondered how one's educational journey can profoundly shape their career and life? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Dr. Jabbar R. Bennett, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Michigan State University, as we celebrate a milestone close to my heart—my 40th birthday—and aim to gain 40 new donors for the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship. Dr. Bennett shares his remarkable path from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, through historically Black colleges and universities, culminating in his influential role at Michigan State. Learn about his family's legacy, including his mother's connection to the historic Greensboro Four sit-ins and in fostering leaders and community.
Additionally, Dr. Bennett opens up about his journey from being the only African-American scientist in a lab of 25 to becoming the inaugural vice president and chief diversity officer at Michigan State University. We discuss the importance of early research opportunities, the nurturing environment at North Carolina A&T State University, and the critical role of education in creating positive change. We also touch upon leadership insights from John C. Maxwell's influential books. This episode is a heartfelt call to support the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship, celebrating the transformative journey from A&T to doctoral success.
Ever wondered how one's educational journey can profoundly shape their career and life? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Dr. Jabbar R. Bennett, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Michigan State University, as we celebrate a milestone close to my heart—my 40th birthday—and aim to gain 40 new donors for the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship. Dr. Bennett shares his remarkable path from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, through historically Black colleges and universities, culminating in his influential role at Michigan State. Learn about his family's legacy, including his mother's connection to the historic Greensboro Four sit-ins and in fostering leaders and community.
Additionally, Dr. Bennett opens up about his journey from being the only African-American scientist in a lab of 25 to becoming the inaugural vice president and chief diversity officer at Michigan State University. We discuss the importance of early research opportunities, the nurturing environment at North Carolina A&T State University, and the critical role of education in creating positive change. We also touch upon leadership insights from John C. Maxwell's influential books. This episode is a heartfelt call to support the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship, celebrating the transformative journey from A&T to doctoral success.
What's up everybody. Once again, this is Dr Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of Entrepreneur Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting Black businesses. I want to welcome you to a special series of our podcast celebrating a milestone that is close to my heart my 40th birthday. As part of this celebration, I am setting an ambitious goal to gain 40 new donors for the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship in North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, an endowment that I co-founded to support teachers and educators who are on their journeys to get graduate degrees. For those of you who have joined our live discussions, you know that typically, 10% of the profits from the podcast go to support this endowment. However, for the months of June and July, I am thrilled to announce that 100% of the profits from the podcast go to support this endowment. However, for the months of June and July, I am thrilled to announce that 100% of the profits will be dedicated to the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship. If you are inspired to support this cause, a link to contribute to the endowment can be found in the show notes. We're asking listeners to generously support the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship to help more educators increase their education so that they can better support the students in our community. This special series will feature testimonials from A&T alumni who have gone on to earn their PhDs, sharing their journeys and impact of their education on their lives and career. It will also feature some new episodes from authors who have written books about HBCUs and a few throwback episodes.
Langston Clark:
In this episode, we feature a conversation with Dr. Jabbar R Bennett, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Michigan State University. Thank you for listening and helping us reach our goal. I have a very special guest, so somebody that you know. You got people in your life that you stalk, but you ain't never really met, and so Dr Bennett is one of those people.
Langston Clark:
So Jabbar Bennett he's a vice president at Michigan State, and before I have him talk a little bit about his from A&T to PhD journey, I'm just going to have him tell us a little bit about what he does right now at Michigan State. And I want to add that Dr Bennett is one of those people who graduated from an HBCU as an undergraduate but stayed pure, and when I say pure, that means all of his degrees, from A&T to PhD, have all been at historically Black colleges and universities but nevertheless, you know, sometimes we think that our degrees aren't worth as much. But he's been in spaces that most people never get, from Ivy League schools to Big Ten schools, to Ivy Light schools and whatnot. So, Dr Bennett, please tell us what you do and share a little bit about your story.
Jabbar Bennett:
Absolutely. Thank you for that very kind introduction, D dr. Clark, and I'm really happy to be here today and be a part of this wonderful idea and this particular conversation to help support your gift and this endowment. So currently I serve as the Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Michigan State University. I have the responsibility to help advance broad diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives that are keen to our success across the entire institution. So I work with students, faculty staff, alumni, external partners on issues that range from admissions to financial aid, to hiring, to supplier diversity, working with folks in the community to help support our efforts on campus but also to build capacity there. So anything that you might imagine that relates to members of underrepresented groups, issues that impact the lives of those who may be underserved, and just everything that makes us excellent. I have my hands down at Michigan State.
Langston Clark:
How do you want to tell the story? Do you want to go from, like Michigan State backwards, or do you want to start at A&T forwards, or maybe even before A&T.
Jabbar Bennett:
I want to go slightly before A&T and go forward. If that's okay, all right. So if I start from the beginning and give you the sort of Reader's Digest version, I am born and reared in Winston-Salem, north Carolina. So a North Carolinian attended public schools in Winston-Salem but graduated and this is important from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham. So I spent two years in that residential experience between 11th and 12th grade, really helping to shore up my academic interests but also articulate really the areas that I found that I strove in. I was really good in certain areas and that I wanted to build upon. So I went to North Carolina A&T. But importantly I want to mention a couple of things about A&T. I mentioned that I was born and raised in Winston-Salem, so we're less than half an hour away. But importantly I want to say this for the sort of importance around A&T and US history. So my mother also was an undergraduate student at A&T and my father got a master's degree from A&T after he retired from the Vietnam War. But my middle sister also got a message from A&T after I got my bachelor's. But I want to go back to my mom, as she and my father are now deceased, but she was a member of the class in 1963 at North Planet A&T, which is the same class as the A&T 4, the Greensboro 4, the Woolworth 4. So while she is not one of the students who you see pictured at the lunch counter and maybe in some of the photos that are all around the world and the Internet and on our campus and at the International Civil Rights Museum, she was one with her class. She took a bold stand and I'll just remind people that these were first year students or freshmen who on February 1st 1960, you know, sort of staged the first sit-in at the Ledgecounter Woolworths, which is what I'm speaking about. But I say that because it was through that action, that bravery and that activation I would say too for that particular event that helped to move the student. I would say our efforts locally in Greensboro at the time to support activism during the civil rights movement. But just how important those activities were, that bravery was and that courage still is today. So that's A&T.
Jabbar Bennett:
I want to fast forward because I took a little time on that history to say I was a biology major and Spanish minor at A&T. I decided to pursue a doctoral degree in biomedical sciences post-A&T to really delve into some work that I developed keen interest in as an undergrad. I'm grateful to A&T for many things for giving me the opportunity to develop academically as a biology major. I conducted research as an undergrad as a first-year student with faculty. I had the opportunity as an undergrad to serve as a teaching assistant in biology research labs. I worked with upperclassmen and who were not science majors to help them understand how to apply the principles of biology as an undergrad. But those early experiences engaging in research and teaching and even publishing with one of my faculty members at A&T as an undergrad really cemented my interest in pursuing science.
Jabbar Bennett:
So I went to Meharry Mobile College, as you talked about sort of staying true to HBCUs again by choice. But I went to Meharry because it was familiar to me Faculty in my department, my whole department of biology at North Carolina A&T. They received their doctorate at Meharry so it was familiar. I had taken visits there with those faculty while I was an undergrad. So when it came time to apply to grad school I did so. I conducted research, biomedical research, looking at tropical diseases, did that work for a while and excelled Again. I was fortunate to publish more at that time and then the next logical step for me, as with many biomedical scientists, is to pursue a postdoctoral research fellowship. So I pursued a postdoc at Harvard Medical School. But it wasn't just that I just woke up one day and said I'm going to Harvard, just that I just woke up one day and said I'm going to Harvard. There were colleagues who were working within the graduate school at Meharry, where I was a student, and at NYU, at the NIH and at Harvard, who worked to bring some promising graduating doctoral candidates to those places to look at programs, to do work in research and further their training career.
Jabbar Bennett:
So if I were to say anything as sort of a theme through my story and today we're talking about my full story it's about the importance of promoting access and giving people opportunity. So while I chose to go to Vocaletta A&T in Meharry, historically Black colleges and I chose those because they generally are open access types of institutions our historically Black colleges and I chose those because they generally are open access types of institutions Our historically Black colleges are we embrace folks who come and we help to meet them where they are to be successful. And that's what equity, I believe, and equity in action, is all about and that's probably something we get coined as institutions that we've done and been committed to over time, really over decades. But I went to those schools not only for academic preparation but I knew that I would also get the cultural support and also the social development and the character development that I needed and that had begun at home. So I can say that what I got from my faculty members and colleagues, staff from both A&T and Menary, was support beyond the classroom and care beyond the grades. So I want to just say that as I fast forward through the rest of this story, I can say that after the postdoc at Harvard Med School, I transitioned to an administrative role at Harvard Med School to help support underrepresented students, trainees and faculty.
Jabbar Bennett:
I did that because the time I trained more than 20 years ago, I was the only African-American or Black scientist in my lab of 25 people but also the only Black scientist that I knew in the department. That was full of hundreds of people at the time. So that transition helped me to better support and think about ways to better recruit and retain and advance members of underrepresented groups. And from Harvard Med School I went on to do corporate relational development in a nonprofit, helped them raise a lot of money but, more importantly, grew my professional network and also my professionalization as a scientist, as an administrator, as someone who had transitioned from higher ed into the corporate space. I worked at that job for a while and I learned a lot about myself during that time and I'll share this now.
Jabbar Bennett:
I don't know how much of this you can use, dr Clark, but I think it's important just to state knowing yourself early on is a major key to your individual and personal success. I'm an introvert by nature. I've never been in a role where I can just be comfortable and sit back and wait and be quiet. But in this role with this nonprofit where I was helping to raise money and bring volunteers together, that type of work because I'm an introvert takes a lot out of me and I have to replenish at some point, like the end of the day. So I did the work as long as I could and as long as I knew that I could do it well at the end of the day. So I did the work as long as I could and as long as I knew that I could do it well.
Jabbar Bennett:
And then I transitioned back into academia, went to Brigham and Women's Hospital, one of Harvard Medical School's teaching hospitals, and ran a multicultural diversity office there. I was recruited there by the former president of that hospital at the time, who was one of my volunteers with this nonprofit where I was doing fundraising. After Brigham and Women's Hospital, spending a couple of years there, and I joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Medicine, I went to Brown University and became assistant dean of the grad school, responsible for recruiting of all of our major master's and PhD programs, at the time of which we were around 75. A couple years since that job, I was asked to think about taking on an additional role while I held the assistant dean of the graduate school role, and that was associate dean for diversity at the medical school. After much conversation and negotiation, I took on the role as associate dean at the medical school for diversity and was promoted to associate dean of the graduate school looking at professional development and recruiting for grad students and postdocs.
Jabbar Bennett:
And for several years in those two dual roles in separate schools, I was traveling every month and that began to burn me out as well and I said wouldn't it be great to have one job? So one day, a recruiter, who was helping to identify the inaugural associate provost or chief diversity officer at Northwestern University, contacted me. So, long story short, after some time and conversation, I served in the inaugural at Northwestern and after several years of thinking about what's next for me and what type of resources would I need to be successful in the work and what type of institution is situated to do the work well and potentially different is how I landed at Michigan State as their inaugural vice president and chief diversity officer a little over three years ago.
Langston Clark:
So a few things. I want to go back to things that you mentioned, and I think there's a lot of people in the audience who will be listening to this episode, who will consider supporting the endowment and A&T, who don't really know all the ins and outs of academia. So talk a little bit about the significance of a place like A&T, giving you the opportunity to publish as an undergraduate student, but then also talk about the importance of you being put in positions like having postdocs, having the opportunity to go to Meharry as an undergraduate student and kind of see it's almost like you saw pieces of the pipeline or the path that you were in before you were actually there.
Jabbar Bennett:
Yeah, thank you for those very thoughtful questions. So one thing I'll say is that you know, my father used to tell my siblings now all the time that education and knowledge is one thing that people can't take away from me, and I've learned to understand that with education, with knowledge, it opens almost any door. So the significance of coming to A&T was, again, not just to get an education but to be nurtured, to be developed academically, socially, culturally, personal development, leadership development and so forth. But in coming to A&T and engaging in sort of activities around being a biology major, I did coursework and that was good. I was learning concepts and I was learning a bit of history that I would at some point, you know, regurgitate on an exam or apply to an experiment.
Jabbar Bennett:
But what happened with the research I engaged in with faculty and working on projects that they have designed that essentially, after many trials and errors, should work? I was able to participate in research as a student, still learning the concepts, still learning the application of those, but generating enough data and being persistent at it long enough to develop some findings or to answer some questions that could help solve some problems, problems that could help benefit society in some way, and that's the work that I did. So when you think about universities and the sort of mission or part of the mission that is consistent across all our institutions generating knowledge it is that knowledge that helps to again bring understanding but also bring about change and often the positive change that affects us in ways that again improve our lifestyle, our well-being and so forth. So it's really important for me personally too, as I was thinking about graduate school beyond my undergraduate degree at A&T sort of what are all the things that I can show that I've done and how can I prove my interest to these programs?
Jabbar Bennett:
Who may admit me to be a graduate student, in this case a doctoral student working toward a PhD or doctorate in philosophy? How can I show them that I'm serious? Because they're not only admitting me to a PhD program, they're saying we're going to pay for your tuition, we're also going to pay you each month a little stipend so you can pay your rent, so that you can eat, so you can buy gas, those types of things. So it was really important for me to have the opportunity as an undergraduate to get early exposure to the profession and really engaging in a major activity in the profession like publishing. That really speaks to again the rigor and also often the quality of the work that you do. So that's what I can say is really important about the research. What was your other question, langston?
Langston Clark:
The other question was about those opportunities that allow you to peer into the next step. So the postdoc that you had, but also the exposure that the professors in undergrad gave you to Meharry, so you can kind of see the landscape of the next step, I appreciate that question very much.
Jabbar Bennett:
So for me again and I'm not the only person I learned in many ways, I'm inspired in many ways, but others of us are also visual learners and for me, having conversations with people who being where I want to go or seeing people in positions that I can aspire to, has been really, really helpful for me. I think about the faculty who saw something in me and took an interest and said let me take you to this undergraduate research symposium at Meharry, because I think you have the potential to do something like this. I think there's a lot of value in faculty and staff. There's also a lot of value in alumni being those role models, being those advisors, being those mentors for current students. And sometimes, when I think about the ways that alumni and others might engage, it is not always for money, but sometimes it is because that matters For scholarships, for emergency support. Somebody needs to go home, they need a procedure done, there's something happened and you need to again take care of an emergency support. Somebody needs to go home. They need a procedure done, there's something happened and you need to again take care of an emergency expense. But it's also the time that volunteers give, whether you're an alumni or someone not affiliated with the institution, just to listen to a student, to take 20 minutes to give an informational interview, to talk about how you got where you are in your career. So those are the types of things that I think are really, really helpful For me.
Jabbar Bennett:
The first job I took after the postdoc was an administrative role in the Office for Diversity, inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School and I had the great fortune to work with a dean who is still in that position after 20 plus years, who had the vision for changing what the professorate looked like, meaning the upper echelon, the upper rank of higher ed if you work in the instructional space, and what she did.
Jabbar Bennett:
She had programs 20 plus years ago that did outreach and engagement with middle school students and teachers with high school students and teachers with undergraduate students in the summers, teachers With undergraduate students in the summers. I ran these research programs for undergrad students who were being exposed to research and cultivating their interest so that they could also apply to grad school, like I did when I was an undergrad student. So seeing that and seeing the work extend into supporting faculty at both further along the pathway really helped me understand that there's not just one way to help create success and to increase diversity in my work. It takes multiple approaches. So I learned it early on. And I'll also say, dr Clark, my lived experience has really shown me a lot around the ways that I can better support, better advocate for it is some ways protect members of other groups better advocate for it is, some ways, protect.
Langston Clark:
And before I get to my last question, I want to ask about the environment that the ethos that A&T creates that allows for people like you and people like me to matriculate to their PhD. Because I think, as we mentioned before the show, like 20 minutes from now, I'm going to be interviewing Ebony McGee, who was a classmate of yours, and Ebony is like those of us who are in the from A&T to PhD group, who are education scholars. She's like the one we look to. You know what I mean. Like she's like our preeminent education scholar. She's a STEM ed scholar or whatnot. So talk about like what was it like to be at a place that cultivated you on your path but was also cultivating other people on their path to getting their PhDs?
Jabbar Bennett:
I appreciate the question and how you framed it and, before I answer, let me give a shout out to my classmate, dr Ebony McGee. She is really doing her thing and, from the academic point of view, meaning continuing to do the research, to engage students and younger scholars in it, collaborating with colleagues to disseminate the information that's going to help us understand how to better prepare students for success, how to prepare students to survive and trainees and faculty to survive in institutions of higher ed, within STEM, within science, technology, engineering and math, and her experience as a trained engineer and also working in STEM ed is just brilliant and she is brilliant. So what does that say about A&T? It says a lot. What it says about North Carolina A&T in particular is that it is fertile ground. It is fertile ground for ideas that cease to be planted. Like all of the other people who come to A&T every fall and I say that too because A&T is a land grant institution, which means we have a commitment to the state to provide education and training in certain areas, and what I have seen is A&T admitting students every year, receiving us during orientation on and moving forward without making too many assumptions, but just really paying attention to what we need to be successful.
Jabbar Bennett:
I had an interest in science and STEM. I chose biology and it worked out. Dr McGee engineering, still doing work to help promote understanding, education, awareness and success in STEM. But it's not a prescribed path that the institutions put us on. It is one that they allow us time to develop. But then there are so many faculty and fellow students we help to nurture and again further articulate those ideas and those passions. So I just appreciate North Carolina A&T for accepting me, for accepting you, for accepting Dr McGee and others for who we are and met us where we were, and from that the exposure to research opportunities, to teaching opportunities, to going to research talks, to going to conferences off campus were really what further again articulated and further honed those skills and goals. But if it weren't for A&T helping us to do that, I'm not sure where we'd be.
Langston Clark:
So my last question is and I apologize, I didn't prep you for this, right I didn't know anything of your question. What reminded me was you had this bookshelf as your background, and so you may not know this, but we have origins as a book club, and so I always ask a guest talk about at least one book that you maybe are currently reading, or a book that you read in the past that has inspired your journey, and in this case, your journey from A&T to PhD.
Jabbar Bennett:
I appreciate that. So I'll go to a book that I read in the past, and that is the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. A second book, if I could name, but just for the listeners, is going to be the 360-Degree Leader. Both books are by the same author, john C Maxwell. So what Maxwell said in the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership he went through and talked about each law. As you can imagine, air 21 described them, but also gave some anecdote to help readers understand, and that's why I really appreciate his writing.
Jabbar Bennett:
He talked about the law of progress, and what he said was and I think about this every day is that activity does not equal progress. Just because you're busy doesn't mean you're making progress toward any particular goal or one that you have in mind. I also appreciated another law that he talked about that helped to give me clarity around what it is I'm doing and what my process is as I think about and choose what it is I want to do in decisions that I make. He talked about the law of discernment, and that's not something you can teach. It's often something that people have. But I say that to say I've spent a lot of time, and I began doing this as an undergrad, transitioning into grad school, and I continue to do it today as I think about career progression and choices and decisions that I've made, and that is just to take time to think what is your purpose, what are you supposed to do? Because there are many things that we could do and that we're good at, but just because we're good at something doesn't mean we're supposed to do it.
Jabbar Bennett:
And I would say, reading some leadership books and that's my favorite genre still to read I always garner something and it's not only what I can apply toward my work or a particular project, but often it's about me. And I tell people all the time when I read leadership books and I tell people you are a leader. I'm not just saying over something beyond you, outside of you, and maybe it's not something in the workplace, maybe you lead your family, you might be a single parent and you are the leader of the house, but it really speaks to how you lead, your love and the decisions that you make, the information and list that you consider in that advancement. So I would say the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C Maxwell. I mentioned two laws, but there are 19 others that are very interesting.
Langston Clark:
All right, dr Bennett, thank you for joining us on this very special bonus episode of Entrepreneur Appetite, which is part of my goal to raise money for my 40th birthday for the from ant to phd endowed scholarship. And before we go, can I just get a real quick aggie pride, eddie pride right, thank you.
Jabbar Bennett:
Thank you, best wishes to you and happy early birthday thank you for listening to today's show.
Langston Clark:
As I mentioned in the introduction, this episode is part of a special series featuring voices from historically Black colleges and universities. This is part of a larger effort to support the From A&T to PhD Endowed Scholarship at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, an effort that I co-founded with two friends of mine who are also on their doctoral journeys. If you would like to support this effort, please review the show notes to make a donation to the endowment. Thank you.
