John Beck recognized for 33 years of service to Michigan State University and over 20 years supporting the Excellence in DEI Awards (EDEIA) program

2024 EDEIA awards program.

For more than 20 years, John Beck has lent his expertise to the EDEIA program, including serving on the selection committee and, per DEI Report and Plan recommendations, was instrumental in the process of expanding the program to an all-university award from 2022 to 2023.

John is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations in the College of Social Science. He has worked extensively on change efforts in the areas of conflict resolution, interest-based negotiation, strategic planning, organizational assessment, and workplace transformation. His clients have included private sector businesses, non-profits and governmental groups, and higher education institutions.

For over thirty years, John has co-directed a program on labor history and workers' culture, including six related museum exhibitions. His work, with the co-founder of Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives, Dr. Yvonne Lockwood, earned them the Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team Award in 2003.

One of John's self-professed proudest accomplishments was to help in the creation and realization of Project 60/50 in 2014, which recognized the milestone anniversaries of Brown v. Board of Education and the Civil Rights Act. The program continues today, a decade later, rebranded as Project 70/60, which will surely be another rallying call for encouraging programs and conversations on civil and human rights across campus during this pivotal year.

John, thank you for the contributions you have made to the EDEIA program, the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, and MSU!