8:46 a.m., March 4, 2016--Harvey L. White, a professor in the University of Delawares School of Public Policy and Administration
(SPPA), has received the Dr. Jewel Prestage Pioneer Award from the
national Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA).
The award was presented to White at COMPA's annual meeting in Jackson, Mississippi, on Feb. 17.
The award is named for the late Jewel Prestage, who was the first
dean of what is now the Mandela School of Public Policy and Urban
Affairs at Southern University. She was also the first African American
woman to receive a doctorate in political science from an American
university.
According to a tribute presented in Congress, Prestage had a profound
influence in the political science discipline, in the political life of
the country and on the lives of the thousands of students with whom she
was associated over the years.
According to COMPA, White earned his award for his outstanding work
in international affairs, service to the organization, scholastic
achievement and contributions to the advancement of public service.
He has served as an academic dean, director of a National Institutes
of Health-funded center, director of a master of public administration
(MPA) program, and in a variety of other administrative leadership
positions.
White served as COMPA's national president in 1996 and 1997. During
his term, he led initiatives that established an endowment to enhance
minority participation in public service, a Ronald Brown Scholarship for
high school students, and the Tyrone Baines Award for college
students.
White also established COMPA's Journal of Public Management and Social Policy
and served as its editor-in-chief from 1995-97. He served as president
of the American Society for Public Administration in 2007 and 2008.
COMPA commended White for his service as founding chair of the
Consortium for International Management, Policy, and Management, and his
successful leadership in organizing conferences, workshops and
development initiatives in Africa. His leadership in developing the
Center for Healthy Communities in Alabama was noted as pioneering, as
well.
COMPA also recognized White's research and advocacy for environmental
justice. The organization noted his participation in the 1990 Michigan
Conference on Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards, which was
the first gathering of scholars worldwide to address issues of
environmental justice. The proceedings and other follow-up activities
from the Michigan Conference led the federal government to establish the
Office of Environmental Justice within the Environmental Protection
Agency.
White earned a doctorate in political science in 1985 from the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; a master's degree in
management in 1978 from East Carolina University; and a bachelor's
degree in political science and philosophy in 1972 from North Carolina
Central University.
A professor of practice at UD, White has research interests in
nonprofit and community leadership, organizational management,
performance evaluation and management, health policy, health inequities,
healthy and active communities, and public health.
Originally published on UDaily.
