Planner kit

Bio, short

Dr. Brian Chad Starks is a criminologist, scholar, author, speaker, and trainer, and the creator of the Be The Messenger Framework, built on Identity, Culture, Diversity, and Respect. With more than 30 years of combined lived, professional, and scholarly experience, he delivers keynotes, trainings, facilitation, and consulting for school districts, universities, government agencies, justice organizations, healthcare organizations, companies, and community organizations, advises senior leaders, and is the author of Courageous Hearts: A 52-Week Devotional Guide to Social Justice through Self-Development.

Bio, medium

Dr. Brian Chad Starks is a criminologist, scholar, author, speaker, and trainer with more than 30 years of combined lived, professional, and scholarly experience. He holds a PhD in Criminology from the University of Delaware, where his research centers on law, inequality, and the connections between law, race, crime, and justice. He created the Be The Messenger Framework, a model built on Identity, Culture, Diversity, and Respect that has been delivered to school districts, universities, a police department, city government, healthcare organizations, and companies, and published in the Journal of STEM Education and Oceanography.

He has taught at Benedict College, Clemson University, Lynchburg College, and Delaware State University, served as Associate Director of Delaware Space Grant, founded the Minority Mentor Lecture Series at the University of Delaware (now the Critical Perspectives Lecture Mentor Series) and the I Know I Can Institute in Lynchburg, Virginia, and leads BCS & Associates, where his consulting and expert witness work continues. He is the author of Courageous Hearts: A 52-Week Devotional Guide to Social Justice through Self-Development, hosts the Be The Messenger podcast, and certifies facilitators who deliver his training in their own districts.

Bio, long

Dr. Brian Chad Starks was born in the South, the youngest of five, to a father who was a high school dropout and a mother who picked cotton as a child. By 17 he had moved seven times. A fourth grade bus ride into a talented and gifted program showed him a world outside the one he had been boxed into, and sports and education became his way out: a scholarship to Wofford College, a Master's in Criminal Justice from the University of South Carolina, and a PhD in Criminology from the University of Delaware.

As a critical criminologist he has studied bail and pretrial justice, including his dissertation, "A Bail of Two Cities: Atlanta vs. Philadelphia," and he has lived the system from the other side as the CEO of a multistate bail bonds company and a juvenile drug court coordinator. He has taught at Benedict College, Clemson University, Lynchburg College, and Delaware State University, served as Associate Director of Delaware Space Grant, where he built programs to bring more students of color into STEM, and founded the Minority Mentor Lecture Series at the University of Delaware and the I Know I Can Institute in Lynchburg, Virginia.

From that work came the Be The Messenger Framework, built on four constructs, Identity, Culture, Diversity, and Respect. He delivers it as keynotes and full-day trainings for school districts, universities, and organizations, from Lynchburg City Schools to the American Geophysical Union, and he certifies facilitators who carry the training into their own districts. He consults with institutions on implementation, advises senior leaders, hosts the Be The Messenger podcast, writes The Messenger Dispatch, and is the author of Courageous Hearts: A 52-Week Devotional Guide to Social Justice through Self-Development. His honors include the NAACP Civil Rights Achievement Award and the University of Delaware's Louis L. Redding Diversity Award. His rallying cry: Healing First. Justice Always. Reform 4Ever.

Introducing him from the stage

Our speaker is a criminologist and a scholar. He grew up moving seven times before he turned 17 and was told that real men work with their hands. He chose differently, and that choice led to a PhD and a framework now used by school districts, universities, and organizations across the country. He is the creator of Be The Messenger, the author of Courageous Hearts, and he asks every room he walks into to get uncomfortable to get comfortable. Please welcome Dr. Brian Chad Starks.

Formats and timing

Keynote, shaped to your program's time slot, for convocations, conferences, and leadership gatherings.
Full-day training, Being the Messenger, for a whole staff or a leadership team.
Multi-day programs, including one, three, and five day STEM access programs for campuses.
Facilitator certification for districts that want to keep the work going after the visit, through Be The Messenger and the Center for Teacher Effectiveness.
Facilitated conversations for associations, faculties, and leadership teams, often paired with a keynote.
Virtual delivery is available for trainings and advising.

Convocations and conference keynotes are usually booked four to twelve months out. Trainings can often be scheduled sooner.

For the business office

A proposal and a W-9 come with every confirmed date.
Purchase orders are welcome. Vendor registration forms and a sole-source letter can be supplied on request.
Facilitator certification and trainings delivered by certified facilitators are contracted and invoiced through the Center for Teacher Effectiveness.

On site

Tell us what the room has, and we will tell you what else is needed. A wireless microphone and a screen for slides cover most rooms.

Photos and name

Print his name as Dr. Brian Chad Starks. He goes by Chad in conversation. Download photos from the photos page and credit William Crooks for the portrait series. High-resolution files are available by email.