Raised in North Carolina, Dorsette comes from a close-knit community of civil rights activists who he says he tries to channel so that he can continue supporting underrepresented people. "I have lived as an underrepresented person all of my life where I also had training ever since I was a wee lad how to navigate, what to do, how to resist.” said Dorsette. This is what prepared him in the beginning of his path to create positive change, he continues to learn from those he surrounds himself with.
Before his work and education began in Oregon, Dorsette attended North Carolina Central University in Durham, NC. While there, he completed a degree in history and education. He went on to teach the 7th grade in Washington D.C. where his roots in social and civic justice began while volunteering with D.C.’s Department of Education to mentor and support students of color who are underrepresented and under supported.
When Dorsette returned to NC, he helped found a Centennial Scholars program, which is recognized nationally. The Male Achievement Center at the university, which went from 22 Black students to 350 in the four years Dorsette was director.
The work he did there attracted the attention of Oregon State University, offering him a position in the Educational Opportunities Program (EOP).
Dorsette moved to Corvallis in 2014 accepting the position of Director of the EOP at OSU. He said that the main difference between the Director position at OSU and the Executive Director position at LBCC is, he is now in direct contact with the president of our and other colleges and universities. Dorsette adds “I get to sell LBCC… So that’s what I’m really excited about.”
Along with the position at LB, Dorsette is also the elected president of the NAACP (National Association of Advancement for Colored People), after President Angel Harris stepped down. During Harris’ presidency, Dorsette served as the vice president, which is why she recommended he apply for the position. He got the job in Jan. 2021 and will remain until 2023.
Dorsette says that his work here will directly support his work with the NAACP. “[The NAACP’s] jurisdiction covers all of the cities in between the two counties…So all this work really aligns quite well [and it] speaks to who I am at my core where I was raised by a long legacy of many civil rights and social justice leaders.”
Much of the work Dorsette has accomplished in the past, as well as since arriving in Corvallis, has been about improving diversity in old systems. He shares many of the same frustrations as many other people of color do, such as not having basic needs met in terms of having someone in town who knows how to cut their hair or having culturally relevant food options.
That is one of the main reasons Dorsette has made friends with Corvallis’ officials like the mayor and police chief, is to ask those types of questions when they come up and get real responses.
Because of that initiative when Dorsette first moved to the area, he was able to build the program Imagine Corvallis Action Network (ICAN) using his roots and experience in political, civic, and social involvement.
He said that his grandparents taught him that “either you can sit on the sidelines and complain about things, or you can get involved.” He is cautious, however, about which clients they take on because he puts a lot of emphasis on protecting himself and his mental wellbeing.
Currently, Dorsette’s goals for the EDI include creating and conducting a “campus climate survey.'' It will help him and the other people he will be working with to navigate and understand issues around campus and to get an idea about what the program is doing well.
He also wants to work with LB’s human resources department and other deans of other colleges around faculty and staff retention; by this, he elaborates that it’s because “the institutions of higher education have a hard time retaining women [who work] on campus, folk of color, and queer folk.”
He is working to help students become more involved with the EDI by figuring out volunteer opportunities, part time positions, and finding out how to create what he calls “affinity spaces” which Dorsette describes as spaces where students who are alike, if you are queer, or Black, or Indigenous, can come together and be in a room with people who relate to them.
The EDI student ambassadors have held their meetings on zoom but are enthusiastic about having in-person meetings in the near future.
New to campus, Dorsette says that his favorite spots to go are the Roadrunner Cafe for breakfast in Takena Hall. A fan of biscuits and gravy for breakfast, it is also his go-to order from Brick and Mortar in downtown Albany. In Corvallis, he loves going to Block 15 for their burgers and tater tots and goes to Chipotle almost three times a week where he loves getting the half steak, half chicken burrito with extra sour cream and mild salsa.
Dorsette says that he is now four states away from a goal he made to visit all 50 U.S. states before he turned 50; he says both North and South Dakota, Hawaii, and Alaska are remaining.
He hopes he will get to Hawaii and Alaska sooner than later since he is closer.
Dorsette is known to be a sharp dresser. He says he’s been like this since a young age and the reason why is because he was always told that he should dress for the position he wants to see himself in. He says the other reason is to be an example to those who look up to him, especially Black and Brown boys, to see themselves in his shoes. He wants the youth to see that “there are many facets, not only to fashion, but [to] Blackness, or queerness, or Brownness.”