Pioneer Award
SPPA's Harvey L. White receives Dr. Jewel Prestage Pioneer Award
8:46 a.m., March 4, 2016--Harvey L. White, a professor in the University of Delaware’s 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.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
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.