Joe T. Darden

Dr. Darden is a Professor in the Department of Geography, Environment and Spatial Sciences at Michigan State University. During his tenure at Michigan State, Darden has served as Acting Chair of Urban and Metropolitan Studies and Dean of the Urban Affairs Programs from 1984 – 1997. Dr. Darden was a Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Geography, University of Toronto, 1997 to 1998. He is the author or co-author of 8 books and over 160 journal articles. More than 20 years ago, he led the efforts to advocate for geography departments nationwide to admit and support “just one” student from underrepresented minority groups. Darden’s long-standing course “The Ghetto” attracts geography and non-geography students to the discipline and exposes them to housing discrimination, “red-lining”, race-based residential segregation resulting from the ideology of white supremacy. Such practices have contributed to separate and unequal neighborhood socioeconomic inequality in Metropolitan areas nationwide. He has been the recipient of several honors including Michigan State University’s Distinguished Faculty Award in 1984, the Harold M. Rose award for Anti-racism and Research and Practice in 2016. He was elected as part of the inaugural cohort of AAG Fellows in 2018. He received the American Association of Geographers (AAG) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.