TO THE CHAPTER INVISIBLE
James E. Span Jr 1973-2024 Higher Educational Professional, Pastor, Mentor
the Cooper–Hewitt, Smith- sonian Design Museum. In addition, he was the executive consulting architect for the American Battle Monuments Com- mission—again breaking barriers as the first Black person to serve in the role. Internationally, he headed the UNESCO International Commission on the Goree Memorial and Museum and oversaw the design of the House of Slaves museum on Gorée Island in Senegal, with its infamous Door of No Return , has dramatically exposed the world to the horrors of slavery. Brother Harry G. Rob- inson III is survived by his wife Dianne; daughters, Erin Robinson, Leigh (Sean) Warfield, and Kia (Todd) Robinson. ♦ “ HE HAD A LONG CAREER IN ARCHI- TECTURAL EDUCATION, BEGINNING AT MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.”
R ev. James E. Span Jr. (Atlanta (GA) Alumni 1997) entered the Chapter Invisible on Novem- ber 23, 2024 at the age of 51. He was Central Michigan University (CMU)’s Exec- utive Director of Student Inclusion and Diversity at the time of his passing. CMU Student Government Association released the following statement. Born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Span attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA where he earned a B.A. in Sociology in 1996. He was a member of the Morehouse College band where he played saxophone and sousaphone and was a member of Kappa Kappa Psi® band fraternity. Span worked his alma mater while earning a Master of Divinity in Sociology from Atlanta’s Interdenominational Theo- logical Center in 2003. Span’s first role at CMU was a campus residence hall director starting in 2005.
“The CMU community mourns the loss of James Span Jr., Executive Director for the Center for Student Inclusion and Diversity, who passed away this weekend. A compassionate leader and advocate, Span dedicated nearly 20 years to fostering inclusion, eq- uity, and personal growth at CMU. From mentoring students and advising organizations to leading diversity education initia- tives, his servant-leader- ship and transformative guidance left an indelible mark on countless lives. His legacy of kindness, wisdom, and dedication will forever inspire us.”
an adjunct professor. He served as an academic advi- sor and pre-major advisor from 2016 to 2019. While employed at CMU, Span earned an MSA in leader- ship from CMU in 2019. He was on track to graduate from CMU’s doctoral pro- gram for higher education leadership in 2026. In 2019, Brother Span became the Associate Direc- tor of Cultural Programming in the Office of Multicultural Academic Student Services (MASS). A year later, he rose to director of the MASS Office, where he supervised the team behind initiatives such as the MAC Scholar- ship, cultural and heritage months, student service offices, and numerous regis- tered student organizations. Span was an advocate of mentoring in higher education and worked on numerous mentoring ini- tiatives at CMU, including MentorCollective, IMPACT and the First-Gen Coun- cil–where he focused on support for first-generation
- Central Michigan University
college students. Over the course of his nearly 20 years at CMU, Span personally men- tored hundreds of students. Among his honors was induction into the More- house’s Board of Ministers and receiving the Northern Province’s Leadership Service Award in 2021. ♦
He was also a member of the CMU faculty as
FALL 2025 ♦ THE JOURNAL 95
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