Michigan State University Professor Dorinda Carter Andrews received the Educator of the Year Award from the Lansing branch of the NAACP on October 22, 2022.
The annual award is among those given by the organization to recognize individuals and organizations who help promote NAACP’s mission. Their mission includes achieving equity, political rights and social inclusion for Black people and all persons of color.
"Dr. Carter Andrews has been an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion as she has sought out to ensure students K-12 are not marginalized. When a person is needed, the first name to be suggested is hers. She has been an invaluable resource for suburban and urban schools. She energizes school district staffs by bringing the message that needs to be addressed for the social needs of the school culture." - 2022 Freedom Fund Dinner Awards Committee, which bestowed the award to Carter Andrews
Carter Andrews was named the college’s first-ever assistant dean for equity outreach initiatives (2016) and associate dean for equity and inclusion (2018) before being named the chair of the Department of Teacher Education in 2019.
“This honor from the local NAACP branch is very humbling,” said Carter Andrews, who is also a former industrial engineer, high school math teacher and kindergarten teacher. “My career as an educator has been centered on racial equity and justice in education, particularly for Black students and their families, and I have engaged in and supported the work of the NAACP to fight institutional and structural racism in education and other sectors of our society since I was a teenager.”
She has been with the MSU College of Education since 2005 and has served in a variety of leadership roles in and outside of the college. In 2015, she served as co-chair of the Department of Teacher Education’s Faculty Advisory Coordinating Committee, which began the development of the TE Core Principles. She has also been a member of the Women’s Advisory Committee to the Provost (2012-15), a core faculty member for and on the executive committee of the African American and African Studies program (2008-19), and a diversity consultant and board member for the MSU Academic Advancement Network (2016-19), among other roles.
Carter Andrews was recognized alongside other Lansing NAACP recipients during the 56th annual Lansing Freedom Fund Celebration.
“The Educator of the Year Award is another recognition of the incredible work Dorinda Carter Andrews performs in and out of the classroom every single day,” said Jerlando F. L. Jackson, dean of the College of Education and MSU Foundation Professor of Education. “Her work consistently centers and celebrates student and teacher equity and success. We are proud to have her as a leader of our faculty and in our college.”