Louis Dale, Ph.D., UAB vice president for equity and diversity, was awarded the Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award this week by the American Association for Affirmative Action.
Each year the AAAA honors professionals and organizations for their work in equal opportunity, diversity and affirmative action. Dale is one of five recipients this year.
"We are pleased to recognize these distinguished individuals and organizations for their contribution to the cause of access, equity and diversity," said Richard A. Baker, J.D., Ph.D., AAAA board member and awards committee chair.
When Dale joined UAB in 1973 as an assistant professor of mathematics, he was the only African-American faculty in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and the minority students gravitated to him for guidance, which he provided.
The following year he was appointed to a new committee developing a Comprehensive Minority Faculty and Student Development Program to help students complete degrees and recruit and retain under-represented faculty. Forty years later, it is still thriving.
Since the early 1990s, Dale has been instrumental in securing grants to increase the number of minority students receiving STEM degrees in all Alabama universities, particularly doctoral degrees. In all, Dale has received more than $40 million from NSF to form alliances and help to implement diversity in higher education institutions in Alabama.
In 2004 he was appointed to the newly created position, vice president for equity and diversity.
The annual awards were conferred during the AAAA’s 40th National Conference and Annual Meeting.