Three Spartans are among those who received Skillman Visionary Awards in 2026. The annual honor celebrates “education changemakers” who make a difference in Detroit and beyond.
The awards acknowledge “educators and community leaders, advocates and policy influencers who are shaping system-level education change.” Awardees, also known as Skillman Visionaries, earn a $50,000 award.
“Across Detroit and Michigan, there are people doing the hard, often unseen work of strengthening public education. They are building trust, opening doors and creating new possibilities for young people every day,” said Angelique Power, president and CEO of The Skillman Foundation, in a press release. “The Skillman Visionary Awards recognize that leadership and invest in it, because when the people closest to students have a voice in shaping what comes next, real change begins to take root.”
The award is presented and funded by The Skillman Foundation, a Detroit-based philanthropic organization.
Omar Hakim
Ed.D. '17 (Educational Leadership)
Omar Hakim serves as vice president for education at Detroit PBS where he leads the organization's educational strategy, programming and community impact initiatives.
Since joining the senior leadership team in 2023, he has overseen key statewide efforts including the Michigan Learning Channel and Detroit PBS's Future of Work Initiative. Through these initiatives, Detroit PBS advances literacy, STEM education, family engagement and lifelong learning opportunities for children, educators and families across Michigan.
In addition to his work at Detroit PBS, Hakim serves on the advisory board for Michigan State University's K–12 Educational Administration Alumni Advisory Board (Department of Educational Administration).
Prior to joining Detroit PBS, Hakim spent nearly two decades working directly in schools, serving as a teacher, instructional leader and school administrator in K–12 settings.
Venessa Keesler
Ph.D. ‘10 (Measurement and Quantitative Methods)
Venessa Keesler is the president and CEO of Launch Michigan, a “cross-partisan nonprofit improving the state’s public education system through research-based and educator-informed policy recommendations.”
Keesler took over Launch Michigan in 2023, the same year the organization became a nonprofit. In this role, she advances Launch’s efforts to “transform K-12 in Michigan by making the system-level changes this state needs — a meaningful high school diploma, adequate and equitable funding and coherence in policy and accountability.”
Prior to Launch Michigan, Keesler was a deputy superintendent at the Michigan Department of Education and was a co-founder of the Michigan Education Research Initiative. Keesler started her career in education as a teacher.
Curtis L. Lewis
B.A. ‘00 (Education), M.A. ‘03 (Curriculum and Teaching), TCRT ‘06 (Elementary Education) and Ph.D. ‘11 (Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education)
Assistant Professor Curtis L. Lewis is the program director for MSU’s fully online M.A. in Teaching and Curriculum. He led the development of the MATC Induction Program to support and recruit early-career teachers and created the Department of Teacher Education’s first graduate and undergraduate courses in restorative practices and trauma-informed education.
Outside of MSU, Lewis is the founder and president for Boldly Moving Education Ahead, a national education nonprofit. With BMEA, Lewis advances the organization’s efforts to foster “innovative approaches to supporting educators and [connect] them with opportunities to use their voices to influence education policy.” Lewis also led the development of the free, Detroit-based BMEA Independent School.
Lewis is a member of Michigan’s Diversity and Equity Workforce Advisory Group, the Michigan Department of Teacher Education’s Teacher Evaluation and Professional Standards committees and the College of Education’s Alumni Board.
“What an incredible honor for some of our extraordinary alums,” said Dean and MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor of Education Jerlando F. L. Jackson. “Spartans from our college and across the university have long had ambitious ideas for improving the City of Detroit, and it is rewarding to see some of those continuing efforts acknowledged with the Skillman Visionary Award. It is a testament to their commitment to improving the city and their state.”
Learn more about the awards and the awardees.
This story originally appeared on the College of Education website.
