The Institutional Diversity and Inclusion Speaker Series at Michigan State University brings experts into conversation with Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Jabbar R. Bennett, Ph.D., to discuss current diversity, equity and inclusion topics impacting higher education.

The 4th annual signature event is on:

Wednesday, April 23, 2025, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Book signing at 7:30 p.m.

Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center, Auditorium
219 S Harrison Rd, East Lansing, MI 48824

Join us for a conversation with Pero G. Dagbovie, University Distinguished Professor of History, Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, Dean of the Graduate School, for a talk on his new book "Forever in the Path: The Black Experience at Michigan State University."

This important 682-page work chronicles the rich and complex history of Black students, staff and faculty at MSU from the 1890s through the late twentieth century. Dagbovie will share insights from his research, highlighting how African Americans from various walks of life contributed to MSU’s growth and evolving identity before and after the modern Civil Rights Movement.

Free signed copies of the book Forever in the Path: The Black Experience at Michigan State University (2025) will be available to the first 100 attendees. A limited number of books will be available for purchase after the talk for a book signing.
 
Venue accessibility: Our venue is wheelchair accessible with elevators and ADA restrooms. American Sign Language interpreters will be on stage during the talk. Sound will be amplified using microphones.

 

Pero G. Dagbovie

Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Dean of the Graduate School

Pero G. Dagbovie is a University Distinguished Professor of History, the Vice Provost for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Dean of the Graduate School at Michigan State University. He is the author of several books, including The Early Black History Movement (2007), African American History Reconsidered (2010), Carter G. Woodson in Washington, D.C. (2014), What is African American History? (2015) and Reclaiming the Black Past:  The Use and Misuse of African American History in the Twenty-First Century (2018). Former editor of The Journal of African American History (the leading and oldest journal in the field of Black history), Dagbovie has also been active in public history. He has served as a scholar consultant for the “And Still We Rise” permanent exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the Organization of American Historians and the National Park Service (U.S. Department of Interior) National Capital Region History Program, National Capital Parks — East. He has also served as a consultant for history and social studies curriculum development with public school systems in Michigan and has led numerous teaching history workshops and summer institutes for secondary school history teachers supported by the U.S. Department of Education, the Michigan Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Dagbovie actively mentors graduate students, has mentored many undergraduate students in the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program and the Summer Research Opportunity Program, and has served as the major advisor of numerous graduate students who have earned doctoral degrees and are now working in academia. His most recent book is Forever in the Path: The Black Experience at Michigan State University.