SERVICE

Light to know. Grace to do.

This motto has guided me since high school and continues to affirm my understanding that a privilege such as this carries profound responsibility. 

Academic citizenship requires more than committee participation. It requires stewardship: supporting colleagues, creating pathways for students and faculty to thrive, and strengthening the institutions that make scholarship possible.

During my time at Howard University, I have approached service as a natural extension of my teaching, research, creative practice, and professional leadership. My service has centered on institution building. I develop the partnerships, infrastructure, and opportunities that enable students, faculty, and academic programs to flourish. Whether supporting strategic planning, contributing to accreditation efforts, mentoring students, or representing Howard University through national and international partnerships, I have remained focused on strengthening the long-term capacity, visibility, and effectiveness of the Audio program and the Cathy Hughes School of Communications.

My professional networks have allowed me to serve the University in ways that extend well beyond traditional committee assignments. I have translated industry relationships into student internships, secured equipment donations during a period of scarcity, cultivated interdisciplinary research collaborations, expanded partnerships with leading media organizations, and created new opportunities for experiential learning that directly benefit Howard students and faculty. By consistently leveraging professional practice in service of the University, I have sought to ensure that every external relationship creates lasting institutional value.

The materials presented in this section document a sustained record of institutional stewardship, collaborative leadership, and community engagement. Collectively, they demonstrate that service is not separate from my teaching, scholarship, creative practice, or professional leadership; rather, it is the mechanism through which each of these areas generates enduring value for Howard University, its students, and the broader communities we serve.

Departmental Leadership as Assistant Chair (2025–Present)

Photo: Chair Leadership Academy

Context: Appointed and served as Assistant Chair for the Department of Media, Journalism & Film, managing operations for a large and complex academic department.

Effort: Led curriculum scheduling, facility coordination, faculty support, and student advising. Built transparent, shared-use production policies to ensure fair resource distribution across the department.

Impact: Strengthened vital institutional partnerships with WHUT (Howard University Television) and advanced school-wide strategic integration. This leadership role demonstrates high institutional trust, operational excellence, and a deep commitment to university governance.

National Congressional Advocacy for Music Education & Industry Infrastructure

November 14, 2023

Context: Invited to participate in the 2023 Congressional Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, partnering with the NAMM Foundation and We Are Moving The Needle.

Effort: Met with congressional offices linked to major federal committees (Senate HELP, House Appropriations, House Education) to lobby for music education funding and workforce development. Delivered formal remarks in the historic Mike Mansfield Room alongside NAMM CEO John Mlynczak, GRAMMY-winning engineer Emily Lazar, and artist J. Dash.

Impact: Linked Howard University’s research and creative leadership directly to national policy conversations regarding federal arts funding, ESSA implementation, and cultural workforce development.

Link: https://www.musicconnection.com/lazar-malachi-join-namms-d-c-fly-in/ 

2026 Commencement Name Reader

May 8, 2026

Context: Invited to serve as the official 2026 Commencement Name Reader, managing one of the university’s most visible and culturally significant ceremonial traditions.

Effort: Coordinated with cross-functional backstage teams to manage real-time name adjustments and phonetic guides. Maintained high public communication standards to ensure the correct, respectful pronunciation of all graduate names during the ceremony.

Impact: Protected and enhanced a vital institutional tradition, ensuring an affirming, celebratory experience for graduates and their families. Received widespread accolades and formal gratitude from university leadership, faculty, and families for professional execution.

ADDITIONAL ACTS OF SERVICE

 

Whisper Room Acquisition Donation from Warner Bros. Discovery

Context: My long-established relationships positioned the Department of Media, Journalism & Film to receive a high-value, professional sound isolation infrastructure donation from Warner Bros. Discovery.

Effort: From 2021 - 2023, while the School of Communications temporarily occupied the MET Building, I coordinated institutional stakeholders, facilities logistics, and interdepartmental teams to safely install the equipment. This effort transformed surplus commercial industry resources into academic production assets.

Impact: With the exception of a single-occupancy vocal booth on the 2nd floor of the MET Building, MJFC lacked production spaces with acoustic treatment. Audio classes met in rooms primarily constructed of cinderblock and glass. I expensed thousands of dollars in external studio time to ensure students experienced proper recording conditions. When the two Whisper Rooms from Discovery arrived, they were a daunting presence, but they provided critical production infrastructure, improved student work, and supported faculty research.

 

Course Overload

Context: Responded to an urgent, mid-pandemic scheduling deficit that threatened instructional delivery for the Audio sequence in Fall 2020.

Effort: Voluntarily assumed a major departmental teaching overload to teach five courses instead of the standard faculty load.

Impact: Delivered essential service to the School of Communications by ensuring zero lost class sections and stabilizing student retention numbers.

 

Legislative Advocacy with the Recording Academy for the PACE Act

Context: Participated in the 2024 Maryland Advocacy Day with the Recording Academy to lobby for the Protecting the Admissibility of Creative Expression (PACE) Act.

Effort: Joined meetings with Maryland legislators and staffers in Annapolis to advocate for safeguards that limit the misuse of creative works, like song lyrics, as criminal evidence. Aligned my work as an artist and researcher with national First Amendment and RAP Act advocacy efforts.

Impact: Contributed to a multi-year policy effort that culminated in Governor Wes Moore signing the bill into law on May 13, 2026. This work established major legal protections for creative professionals regarding race, equity, and artistic freedom.

 

Service to the Department

  • Robeson Awards Committee - 2021 - Voiceover recording for honoree announcement, Sound editing and mixing for aggregated presentation of winners' work
  • Search Committee - 2023 - Participated in interviews and selection of new tenure-track faculty
  • WHUR Committee - 2021 - Recorded, edited, and mixed student, faculty, and alumni interviews for SOC's 50th anniversary broadcast
  • Thesis Film Mix Engineer - 2024 - I provided re-recording mix (dub mix) services for nine students' films. This included extended hours of consultation with student directors and working for two days in a commercial studio where students met virtually and in-person to finalize the sound for their films.
  • Election Day Volunteer - 2022 - I hosted Howard University students who traveled to Baltimore to cover the Maryland gubernatorial and local elections. Student coverage included print, photo, and audio journalism conducted at community polling places and at Governor Wes Moore's historic 2022 election night victory celebration.

 

Service to the School

School of Communications Executive Committee (2022 - 2024)

Context: Elected and served as the departmental representative for Media, Journalism, and Film (MJFC) on the School of Communications Executive Committee.

Effort: Participated in monthly strategic meetings with school leadership to evaluate academic planning, curriculum alignment, resource allocation, and faculty governance. Ensured the operational needs of the Audio/Radio sequence were fully represented.

Impact: Advanced transparent governance and consensus-building across multiple disciplines. This service profile demonstrates institutional trust and collaborative leadership within the school's highest decision-making bodies.

 

 

Service to the University

 

GHUCCTS & Clinical Research Unit

March 2025

I executed professional voiceover recording and editing for a patient-facing video project by the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

 

Hip Hop Studies Minor Committee

2022 - 2023

I contributed to design of the new Hip Hop Studies minor by adding courses MJFC 333 - Music in Media and MJFC 462 - Advanced Audio Production to the curriculum.

 

 

Service to the Profession

  • We Are Moving the Needle Sound Board - 2021 - 2026
  • The Musicianship - Board of Directors - 2023 - 2024
  • Journal of Radio and Audio Media - Reviewer & Referee - 2023
  • AudioGirl Africa Campaign Support - 2023
  • Full Sail University Audio Production Program Advisory Committee - 2023
  • Shepherd University Department of Alumni Affairs Speaker - 2023
  • Chair, Producer & Engineer Wing, DC Chapter of the Recording Academy - 2022 - 2024
  • The Recording Academy - Producer & Engineers Wing Advisory Council - 2022 - 2024
  • The Recording Academy - Board of Trustees - 2020 - 2022
  • Audio Engineering Society Committee - 2021
  • WPFW - Audio Editor (Special) - 2021
  • Blue Ribbon Technical GRAMMY Review Committee - Multiple years