Nominations open for race relations community award

Arizona State University is seeking nominations for the A. Wade Smith Community Award for Advancement of Race Relations. The award is given to an Arizona resident whose efforts contribute to the improvement of race relations in the community.

Nominations for the award are due March 6. Nomination information and the form are available online at clas.asu.edu/smithlecture or by calling 480-965-1441.

The A. Wade Smith Memorial Lecture committee selects the annual recipient based on demonstrated leadership and courage in the advancement of race relations in Arizona. Past recipients include Doris Marshall, Raner Collins, Betty Fairfax and Jean Fairfax, and Elsie Moore.

The award will be presented March 30 as part of the annual A. Wade Smith Memorial Lecture on Race Relations, held on ASU’s Tempe campus. Julianne Malveaux, an author, woman’s activist and civic leader, is this year’s lecturer. The event is free and open to the public.

The annual A. Wade Smith Memorial Lecture on Race Relations honors the memory and life work of its namesake. Smith, a former ASU professor and chair of sociology, worked tirelessly to improve race relations on campus and in the Valley. He also chaired the ASU Campus Environment Team.

After his death in 1994, Smith’s friends and family, with support from ASU and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, established the lecture series in order to improve race relations on campus and within the greater community. Well-respected leaders and scholars, including Cornel West, Mary Frances Berry, Ray Suarez and Leonard Pitts Jr., are among the talented speakers who have presented this lecture on race relations at ASU.