Ronald E. Snead Sr., chair of the Ferris State University Board of Trustees, was presented
a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award on Wednesday, April 25 by David
Pilgrim, Ferris’ vice president for Diversity and Inclusion.
The award was given by Pilgrim, founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, to Snead during a dinner reception at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in conjunction with the grand opening of the new Jim Crow Museum facility at Ferris.
Snead, a resident of Greenville, was elected as chair of the Board of Trustees in November 2010 and is the university’s first African American graduate to hold the position. He was originally appointed to serve as a trustee in 2005 by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm and will complete his eight-year term on the board on Dec. 31.
A Grand Rapids native, Snead has been involved in the Girl Scouts of Michigan Trails Board and the Michigan State National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. While a student at Ferris, Snead was active in a number of campus organizations. He served as NAACP chapter president and was vice president of the All-College Student Government.
Snead graduated from Ferris with a degree in Biology/Pre-Medicine in 1971 and has worked with nine of his alma mater’s 18 presidents during the last 40-plus years. Snead, a 1995 recipient of Ferris’ Distinguished Alumni Award, has served on The Ferris Foundation Board of Directors and currently serves on the Jim Crow Museum Board.