Notables

Frank H.T. Rhodes, president emeritus of Cornell, received the American Council on Education's (ACE) Reginald Wilson Diversity Leadership Award Oct. 25 at ceremonies in Atlanta. The award is presented to individuals "who have made outstanding contributions to diversity in American higher education," according to ACE. Other recipients of the year's award are Juliet V. García, president of the University of Texas at Brownsville, John B. Slaughter, president of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering Inc., and syndicated radio personality Tom Joyner.

Rhodes, an internationally renowned educator and geologist, served as Cornell president for 18 years. At the time of his retirement in 1995, he was the longest-serving Ivy League president and a national advocate for education and research. He played a significant role in the development of national science policy under several U.S. presidents and served as chair of the National Science Board, the policy-making body of the National Science Foundation.

He chaired the 1987 ACE Task Force on Minority Education that produced the report, "One-Third of a Nation," for which former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford served as honorary co-chairs. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush named him to the President's Education Policy Advisory Committee. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Commission on the Future of the Research University. He is currently president of the American Philosophical Society and professor emeritus in the Cornell Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

Lee Dyer, professor of human resource studies in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and chair of the school's Human Resource Studies department, is the 2003 winner of the Herbert Heneman Jr. Career Achievement Award. The award, which is given annually by the Human Resource Division of the Academy of Management, is based on "a clear record of excellence in research; the impact of the nominee's research upon the science, teaching and practice of human resource management; and the stature of the nominee relative to other scholars in the field of human resource management." In announcing Dyer's selection, the award committee noted his extensive record of scholarly publications, citing in particular his pioneering contributions to the emergence of human resource strategy as a legitimate and increasingly important domain of academic research. The committee also noted Dyer's ongoing leadership in the field by highlighting his roles in helping to found and nurture the development of the Human Resource Planning Society and, later, the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) at the ILR School, as well as his early induction as one of the few academic fellows in the National Academy of Human Resources.

Nhu Le, a third-year law student in Cornell's J.D. program, has been awarded a fellowship from the Skadden Fellowship Foundation, and another third-year law student, Diana Adams, advanced to finalist in the prestigious national competition for public-interest-law fellowships. Funded by a bequest from the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, the foundation awards about 25 fellowships a year to graduating law students and outgoing judicial clerks. Described in the Los Angeles Times as a Peace Corps for top law school graduates, the program aims to give fellows the financial freedom to pursue their interests in public-interest law. Fellows provide legal services to the poor, elderly, homeless and disabled as well as to people deprived of their civil rights. As a Skadden fellow, Le will work for Greater Boston Legal Services, under the supervision of Peter Coulombe, J.D. '94. Her project will involve establishing a clinic to assist low-income custodial parents in non-complex family law cases. "We know that Nhu and Diana will serve as inspirations to our current and future law students," said Kate Rainbolt, public-interest coordinator at Cornell Law School.