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 Kent State 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 Kent State’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 Kent State 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 Kent State Magazine www.kent.edu/magazine/news/change-maker