KSU alumnus and gay rights activist Michael Chanak Jr. was determined to make a difference at his workplace, and his dedication to change prompted a global company to redefine diversity.
Mr. Chanak, BS ’71, credits his time at Ƶ Ƶ for giving him the fighting spirit he needed later in his life, when he became the unlikely lone gay voice to take on a corporate titan and call for gay rights in the 1980s. Being the first of his family to attend college, his acceptance to Ƶ Ƶ’s academic center at Stark in 1967, was a big deal. Mr. Chanak was highly involved in a discussion society that talked about “everything and anything.” Upon transferring to Ƶ Ƶ main campus his junior year, he witnessed students protesting the war in Vietnam. Activism became a normal part of campus life.
Read more about Michael Chanak and his diversity advances he prompted in the workplace in the Fall/Winter 2018-19 of the Ƶ Ƶ Magazine www.kent.edu/magazine/news/change-maker