EAST STROUDSBURG -- East Stroudsburg University Director of Athletics Dr. Gary R. Gray announced on Friday that Montana State University Billings Director of Athletics Michael Bazemore will be the eighth speaker in ESU's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in College Athletics: A Call to Action webinar series.

Bazemore will speak on Zoom on Fri., Oct. 22 at 3:00 p.m. EST.

"I'm extremely excited to contribute to this great series and continue the conversation. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are extremely important to me and we have to be intentional about moving the needle and improving in these areas," said Bazemore of serving as ESU's eighth guest speaker in the webinar series. 

The native of Philadelphia began his current role this past July. Bazemore came to Billings from the NCAA national office in Indianapolis as an assistant director of academic and membership affairs. In this past role, Bazemore was responsible for providing NCAA bylaw interpretations for member institutions, processed legislative relief waivers and was the primary contact for the Division II institutional performance program.

No stranger to MSUB, Bazemore had served as the director of compliance along with serving as a member of the athletic department's media relations and gameday operations staff from 2012-2016. As the director of compliance, Bazemore was the chief rules officer and compliance liaison to the NCAA and GNAC for three years.

The former professional indoor football player has also held roles at NCAA Division II members Truman State University and Metropolitan State University of Denver before joining the NCAA national office team.

"I'm excited to welcome Michael Bazemore as our featured presenter this month," said Dr. Gray. "Mike is originally from Philly, played football at Michigan State, and attended graduate school at MSUB after a magnificent career in Arena Football. He gained experience in operations, sports information, and compliance earlier at MSUB.  Mike has also worked at the NCAA National Office. He is new in his role as Director of Athletics. I am certain he will do a great job sharing his perspective on diversity, equity, and inclusion in college athletics and will share some insightful ideas on how we can continue to change the landscape of college sports in a very positive way."

Bazemore earned a pair of bachelor degrees from Michigan State in interdisciplinary studies in social science and sociology, while being a student-athlete on the football team. He earned his master's degree in sports, recreation and fitness management from Montana State University Billings in 2014.

Everyone in and outside the ESU community is welcome to participate in the 12-month webinar series that began last March. For more information on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in College Athletics: A Call to Action speaker series and to view past presentations, visit esuwarriors.com/DEI.

Past presenters in Diversity Equity and Inclusion in College Athletics: A Call to Action
March: Muhamadou Kaba
April: Fan Yang
May: Miles Avery
June: Domineque Scott
July: Tricia and Kelsey Melfy
August: David Akinwande and Rece Bender                                                                                                         
September: Courtney Lovely Evans