Sean Harris admits he wasn’t entirely comfortable when he learned he would be honored at Worcester’s second annual Black Excellence Celebration.
The director of community engagement at Quinsigamond Community College has spent much of his career trying to create opportunities and recognition for other people. Finding himself on the receiving end took some getting used to.
“My initial reaction was a little embarrassed, as well as shocked,” Harris told the Worcester Guardian. “I’ve never been big on accepting awards because I feel like what I’m doing is what is supposed to be done.”
But this recognition, he said, carries particular weight because of where it comes from.
“It means a ton that I was one of the honorees chosen because it comes from community and a group of individuals that I love, respect and value,” Harris said. “People that pour into me, and others constantly. That’s what matters to me.”
Harris is honored alongside Dr. Crista Johnson-Agbakwu, a physician, professor and health equity leader at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health, and Worcester Deputy Fire Chief William Mosley at the second annual Honoring Black Excellence Celebration on Friday, Oct. 2, at the AC Hotel Worcester.
The event, organized around the theme “Honoring yesterday. Empowering today. Inspiring tomorrow,” recognizes Black leaders whose work has made an impact in Worcester and beyond, while putting an emphasis on making those leaders and their accomplishments visible to younger generations.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell delivers the keynote address. Angelo Gray gives a special musical performance, and inaugural honorees Deb Hall, CEO of YWCA Central Massachusetts, and David Connell, president and CEO of the YMCA of Central Massachusetts, returns to present this year’s awards.
“More than a celebration, Honoring Black Excellence is an investment in our future,” Black Excellence Committee Chair Dianne Langford James said in the event announcement. “By honoring our past, recognizing the impact of today’s leaders, and planting seeds of hope, leadership, and possibility in the hearts of our youth, we are building a lasting legacy.”
The three honorees have followed different paths to that work.
Johnson-Agbakwu is the inaugural executive director of the Collaborative in Health Equity at UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Health and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and population and quantitative health sciences.
Her career has focused heavily on reducing health disparities and improving care for underserved and historically marginalized communities, particularly women and migrant populations.
Before coming to Worcester, Johnson-Agbakwu founded the Refugee Women’s Health Clinic at Valleywise Health in Phoenix, a program that expanded to serve more than 16,000 patients from 68 countries across women’s health, pediatrics, internal medicine and family medicine.
Her work has also included research and advocacy around reproductive health, gender-based violence and female genital mutilation/cutting, as well as efforts to improve cultural competency among health care providers.
Mosley is being recognized after more than two decades with the Worcester Fire Department, where organizers cited his work in public safety, firefighter readiness and mentorship. He also broke a barrier within the department as the first person of color elected president of Worcester firefighters union IAFF Local 1009.
For Harris, community work has largely meant building relationships—and then using those relationships to open doors.
He joined QCC in 2021 and became director of community engagement in 2023. His work includes developing partnerships between the college and the larger Worcester community and helping connect people with educational and workforce opportunities.
“I think what I’ve learned most is that it is about genuine relationship building and authentic partnership,” Harris said. “You get so much more done when it’s coming from a place of genuine care and concern.”
Trust, he said, makes it easier to connect people with programs and resources and encourages other organizations to become partners themselves.
One recent example is QCC’s partnership with Saint-Gobain, which is investing $300,000 in an advanced manufacturing center in the college’s new multipurpose facility. Harris said the advanced manufacturing program is one he envisioned years ago while working in workforce development.
The partnership helps create a direct pipeline for students while developing workers with skills needed by local industry, he said.
Harris is equally proud of work that may be less visible from outside the college, including recruiting faculty members who better reflect the students in QCC classrooms.
“This allows our students to see themselves reflected in the front of the classroom, and that matters to me 100%,” Harris said.
That idea of seeing what is possible is also central to the Black Excellence Celebration.
Organizers established the event not simply to recognize individual achievement, but to preserve the stories of Black leaders and give younger people examples of leadership and success within their own community.
For Harris, that part is personal.
A Worcester native who has spent most of his life in the city, he said he wants young Black people to see someone who came from an environment like theirs—and, importantly, someone who is still there.
“I do my best to attend and table at everything my office sponsors,” Harris said. “Often that means nights and weekends for a lot of the year, but I believe that we need to be in as many spaces as we can, as often as we can.”
His definition of Black excellence similarly extends beyond individual accomplishments.
“For me it’s about shattering the stereotypes and low expectations some people still hold on to and believe about black people,” Harris said. “It’s about the collective more than the individual. It’s about making sure that, as I climb, I’m reaching back to pull others up with me.”
And for someone initially uneasy about being singled out for an award, that may be the part of the honor that matters most.
“It’s about creating the roadmap of what excellence looks like for the next generation,” Harris said, “and that they know it looks like them.”
The second annual Honoring Black Excellence Celebration is Friday, Oct. 2, at the AC Hotel Worcester, 125 Front St. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the program beginning at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.
Have a story tip, community concern, or insight to share? Email Editor Charlene Arsenault at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org.
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