Bernard C. Radde Distinguished Service Award: Danny Sledge

The Bernard C. Radde Distinguished Service Award was presented to Danny Sledge in 2019.

Danny Sledge has spent a career helping students strive for success.

The Benton Harbor native, who received his bachelor’s degree in music education in 1974 and master’s in counselor education/counseling psychology in 1977 from Western Michigan University, has worked in higher education administration for more than 35 years.

Danny was the first director of Lake Michigan College’s Upward Bound program, which helps low-income, first-generation college-bound students. He also served as the Dean of Student Development at both Lake Michigan College and Kalamazoo College. Danny also served as Director of the Division of Minority Affairs and Acting Dean of Students at Western Michigan University, and recently retired as the Diversity and Inclusion Program Manager at Lakeland Health, a position he began May 2015.

In addition to serving as a Lake Michigan College administrator, Danny has long served as the college’s diversity consultant, providing employee and student training. For the past 15 years, he has served as the emcee and a member of the planning committee for LMC’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration.

Danny has been an invited presenter at the National Conference on Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE); served as president of the International Mentoring Association (2000-2002); selected as an American Council on Education Fellow semi-finalist (2007); and co-authored a teacher resource guide, “Creating a Climate of Civility,” with Dr. Theresa Powell, Vice President of Student Services at Temple University in Philadelphia. He has a passion for music, but has always defined himself as an educator with the goal of just “giving back what was given to me.”