While working at DuPont, Dr. Bazzelle served in a leadership role to recruit minority engineering students for the company.
Like many parts of his life, Dr. Bazzelle's involvement in and dedication to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education has roots in his family's legacy of education advancement.
Dr. Bazzelle’s uncle, Dr. Bridges A. Turner (pictured on the right) was the first Black man in the United States to receive a doctorate in industrial education. In 1963, Dr. Turner was the Texas Southern University Dean of the School of Vocation & Industrial Education. He led the university's effort to create the Minority Manpower Resources Project in partnership with NASA. That collaboration resulted in the recruitment of Black engineers to work in the national space program.
A meeting with Dr. Turner and DuPont in 1976 led to the creation of the Forum to Advance Minorities in Engineering, Incorporated (FAME, Inc.). This organization was to be funded and operated by DuPont with the same goal as Dr. Turner's past projects: educate and recruit students of color into the STEM fields. DuPont employee John Mathis served as the first executive director of FAME. When Dr. Bazzelle returned to Delaware in 1984, DuPont appointed him to FAME’s board as a liaison between the program and the company. He worked closely with the next FAME director, Guizelous “Guy” Molock, who saved the program when DuPont dropped their financial support in the late 1980s.
As a result of Dr. Bazzelle, Guy Molock, and subsequent leadership's efforts, FAME is still going strong today. Nearly all the students in FAME attend college, with most pursuing STEM-related degrees. Under the current director Donald Baker, FAME expanded its offerings, launching the “STEMulate Change” program for younger students, continuing its mission to increase racial and gender diversity in engineering. Since its founding in 1973, over 35,000 students interested in STEM have found motivation and community in FAME’s programs.
In this except from Dr. William E. Bazzelle Sr.: A Life of Science & Service, Dr. Bazzelle discusses his work to promote minority STEM education:
Introduction | Heritage | Growing Up | College | Graduate School | DuPont Years | Family | STEM Mentorship | Philanthropy