The Carnegie Corporation of New York recently announced four winners of its 2013 Academic Leadership Awards. Winners are selected for being an exceptional president of a U.S. college of university.
Only one of the four winners is a woman; Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College in Atlanta. President Tatum is the first president in the state of Georgia and the first president of a historically Black college or university to win the award. The award comes with a $500,000 grant that the recipient can use to further his or her academic initiatives.
President Tatum said, “It is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition. I am grateful to work with colleagues who believe in the transformative power of education, and who understand the opportunities we provide are not for our students alone, but for the communities they will influence when they leave our gates. I am thrilled to receive this award and use it in the service of our mission.”
Dr. Tatum is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Connecticut. She earned a master’s degree at the Hartford Seminary. President Tatum earned a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan. She is the author of the best-selling book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race.