Metropolitan State University of Denver on March 8-9 hosted Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professor Calvin Mackie, Ph.D., an award-winning mentor, inventor, author, former engineering professor and internationally renowned speaker. Mackie is also the founder of STEM NOLA, which has engaged over 100,000 K-12 students in hands-on STEM-based activities. In 2021, he launched STEM Global Action to advance K-12 STEM education across the U.S. and the world.
“You think STEM is for somebody else, somebody who doesn’t look like you, somebody who came from a different neighborhood or community, and I want you to know STEM is for you,” Mackie said to an audience of MSU Denver students during his “Stronger STEM, Stronger Society” lecture March 9.
In his address to students and community members, Mackie credited his son, then in third grade, with helping to plant the seed for STEM NOLA. They started doing science projects in their garage, building solar cars and rockets, to supplement his son’s science classes and provide additional conceptual knowledge. Mackie’s son became proficient in science and expressed his desire for his friends to have similar experiences. It was then that Mackie realized he had something to offer the broader community.
STEM NOLA takes science, technology, engineering and math out of college classrooms and into the community, where everybody can access it.
“We’re in the business of helping people achieve their dreams,” Mackie said.
The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship was initiated in 1981 to foster multiculturalism, diversity and academic excellence at MSU Denver. The professorship brings renowned scholars and artists of distinction to the University to conduct classes, seminars, performances, and lectures for students, faculty and the larger Denver population.
Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Professors have included such luminaries as Princeton Professor Cornel West, pianist Billy Taylor, author Iyanla Vanzant, former president of Spelman College Johnetta Cole, jazz singer Diane Reeves, late actor and civil–rights activist Ossie Davis, and executive editor of Ebony magazine Lerone Bennett Jr.