Fine arts specialist Charles St. Clair receives 2025 ASU MLK Jr. Faculty Servant-Leadership Award

Charles St. Clair, a fine arts specialist in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, has been chosen to receive the 2025 MLK Jr. Faculty Servant-Leadership Award. 

He will be recognized at the university’s MLK Jr. breakfast celebration on Jan. 23. 

Question: You’ve been honored with the 2025 ASU MLK Jr. Faculty Servant-Leadership Award. Describe how you felt when you heard the news.  

Answer: I felt honored, yet humbled by the title ASU MLK Jr. Faculty Servant -Leadership Award. Dr. King was such a great leader and great example to me in my life as someone who listened and was led by the spirit of a higher power. 

Q: How have your life experiences shaped you into the leader you are today?   

A: Now as I’m approaching my golden years, looking back I realize that I’ve been prepared by incredible mentors rescuing me as a foster child and instilling in me an understanding that the debt I owe can only be paid forward. 

Q: How have you incorporated Martin Luther King Jr.’s values of service and inclusion in your everyday life?  

A: Service: I hold these words to be true, “When you are in the service of mankind you are only in the service of your God.” Inclusion: Growing up bi-racial I learned firsthand what it felt like to be excluded. I never want anyone, especially a child, to ever feel that pain; it can be immobilizing. I’m not saying inclusion is easy. I think it starts with ourselves — learning to love yourself and learning how to be loved. Then, you have the capacity to love and include others. I’ve learned the lesson and now try to put it into action by being outward-facing. 

Q: What has been your most memorable experience of helping others? 

A: I feel the most memorable experiences are yet to come, but I’m blessed by the overwhelming and meaningful opportunities I’ve had so far — rescuing a young man from Kenya and supporting him as a family member through his BA, MA and PhD is a highlight. Finding a young man lost and wandering in the halls on campus, setting him on the right track, mentoring him through his undergrad and now his masters is another bright experience. Bringing smiles and hope to young children who have you been rescued from child slavery in Ghana West Africa leaves an indelible impression on my perspectives on life. Truly, it feels like I receive the most when in the act of helping others. I'm blessed.

Q: Who or what keeps you inspired and motivated to serve others? 

A: People! My wife — she’s the “service queen.” Her name is Faith; need I say more? My colleague, Duku Anokye, she keeps it real. The opportunity that ASU provides to literally reach out and touch the lives of so many while I’m on this journey. My ancestors who provided this privilege. Last, but certainly not least, my faith in Jesus Christ. 

Q: What advice would you give to future leaders here at ASU? 

A: I’m going to piggyback on the words of another great leader, JFK, with a little wording change. “Ask not what ASU will do for you, but what you can do while at ASU?” I often ask students, “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?” There are opportunities to make change. Yes, there are hoops and hills, but they are not insurmountable when your heart is in the right place. 

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” — Antoine de Saint Exupery.

Q: Anything else you’d like to add? 

A: My service journey over the past 30-odd years at Arizona State University and the creation of the March on West, an opportunity to share the magnificent words of Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech with thousands of Arizona youth, was never something I could have done alone. It started with a small handful of people holding on to Dr. King's vision and the university that supported our efforts and continues to not just talk the talk but walk the walk in the footsteps of Dr. King! It takes a village.