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Whitaker Receives 2004 MSU Excellence in Diversity Award

Rodney Whitaker, director of jazz studies and associate professor of jazz bass at MSU, is at the forefront of promoting diversity within the Jazz Studies Program, MSU, and throughout Michigan. In honor of his many achievements, he received the 2004 MSU Excellence in Diversity Award. The award honors individuals, teams, units and organizations at MSU for their innovation and outstanding efforts to promote and achieve diversity.

Whitaker helped move the Jazz Studies Program forward through developing a curriculum that supports an undergraduate major in jazz studies, and by recruiting a high-quality, diverse faculty and student body. In addition to increasing under-represented groups, he has established many role models for the growing number of minority students. He bases his innovative curricular program on the African American tradition of teaching aural skills with a foundation of blues as the basis of teaching improvisation. He has also created programs at MSU addressing issues of discrimination, race relations, and hope and promise, including the annual ‘Jazz: Spirituals, Prayer and Protest’ concert celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. Whitaker also has developed many outreach initiatives that include faculty and students, establishing close relationships with Detroit Public Schools, the Detroit Symphony Education Department, and the Arts League of Michigan.

In addition to a $2,500 cash award, winners’ names will be added to the diversity wall plaque located in the Main Library. To date, 95 individuals, units and teams have been honored for diversity efforts since the award was initiated in 1990.