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3:40 p.m., April 1, 2003--The Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program has been awarded UD’s Louis Lorenzo Redding Diversity Award.
The Redding Award is given annually to a UD individual, unit, department or organization that promotes, enhances and implements diversity, which “results in significant change in the campus climate and/or the composition within the University community.”
The award presentation was made Thursday evening, March 13, at the annual Louis L. Redding Diversity Lecture, which was given this year by Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History at Princeton University.
According to the President’s Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity, the McNair program was chosen as the recipient of this year’s award because of its contributions to racial and cultural diversity at UD and beyond. The federally funded program—which currently has 45 active scholars and an additional 19 working toward completion of their doctoral degrees—has a 100 percent success rate in helping students get into graduate programs of their choice and obtain funding.
“The McNair program, holds to the premise that diversity, like faith, must take root in the human heart, and our program is designed with a high value for the uniqueness and sacredness of the individual,” Maria Palacas, McNair program coordinator, said. “Our program attempts to cultivate and celebrate the individual, while at the same time focusing on the life of the mind and the academic skills necessary to achieve excellence in higher education and beyond.”
The Redding Award celebrates the accomplishments of the McNair scholars, Palacas said, and honors the program’s commitment to guide its scholars into top graduate programs across the country, which will eventually lead to more diverse college and university faculties nationwide.
“We, the scholars and staff, are honored to be recognized for our efforts to prepare and empower a diverse population for graduate studies,” Palacas said.
The award honors and remembers the late civil rights attorney Louis L. Redding. Redding was a graduate of Howard High School in Wilmington, Brown University and Harvard Law School. Upon graduation from Harvard, in 1929, he became the first African American to be admitted to the Delaware bar.
Motivated by his belief that African Americans could attain equality through the legal process, Redding fought tirelessly for civil rights and justice. Because of his commitment and expertise, the University of Delaware was desegregated in 1949.
The award, which consists of a plaque and $1,000 gift to the Morris Library in the recipient’s honor, recognizes Redding’s contribution to racial and cultural diversity at UD.
Past recipients of the Redding Award include the University Gallery, the Office of Residence Life, the College of Engineering’s RISE (Resources to Insure Successful Engineers) Program, the UD Library and the School of Urban Affairs and Public Policy.
Article by Amanda Goss, AS2003
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