Spelman President Receives 2005 Brock International Prize in Education
Tatum first woman and first African American to receive the prestigious award
NORMAN, Okla.
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College in Atlanta, and noted author on racial identity and relations, has been named as the 2005 recipient of the Brock International Prize in Education.
The Brock Prize consists of $40,000 cash and a sculpted bust of Sequoyah, the only person known to have created an alphabet. It was awarded to Tatum during the Brock Symposium for Excellence in Education last month at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. The award is presented through the combined effort of the University of Oklahoma, the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma State University.
Dr. Michael P. Wolfe, executive director of the international honor society Kappa Delta Pi, says the Brock Prize is the most significant individual educational award in the world, dedicated to honoring one person each year that has made a significant impact on the practice or understanding of the science and art of education. Contributions considered include new teaching techniques, the discovery of learning processes, the organization of a school or school system, the radical modification of government involvement in education or other educational innovations in education, medicine or business.
Tatum has served as president of Spelman College since 2002, and previously served as acting president at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She has held professorships at Mount Holyoke, Wellesley College, Westfield State College, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Tatum holds a doctorate and a master’s in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, a master’s in religious studies from Hartford Seminary and a bachelor’s in psychology from Wesleyan University. She has authored and presented more than 150 scholarly papers related to multicultural education and racial identity development.
Tatum’s recent title, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, is widely acclaimed as mandatory reading by faculty and community book clubs around the world. The book was named the 1998 Multicultural Book of the Year by the National Association of Multicultural Education and is high on the must-read list of the New York Times. Tatum is recognized as one of the most influential women in the United States.
Each year the Brock Prize executive committee selects nine jurors, who in turn select the Brock laureate. Jurors include educators and champions of education, university officers, meritorious professors, business and government officials and others committed to excellence and innovation in education. Each juror nominates one prize candidate and serves as an advocate for that candidate during jury deliberation. Funding for the Brock Prize and Symposium is ensured by an endowment in the Brock Foundation, a portion of the Tulsa Community Foundation. For more information about the Brock Prize or the Brock Symposium, visit the Web site at <www.brockprize.org>.
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