(Norman, Okla.) - Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College in Atlanta, and noted author on racial identity and relations has been named as the 2005 recipient of the Brock International Prize in Education.

The Brock Prize consists of $40,000 cash and a sculpted bust of Sequoyah, the only person known to have created an alphabet. It will be awarded to Tatum during the Brock Symposium for Excellence in Education to be held Monday, March 28, 2005, at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okla. The award is presented through the combined effort of The University of Oklahoma, The University of Tulsa, and Oklahoma State University.

According to, Michael Wolfe, executive director of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, the Brock Prize is the most significant educational award in the world dedicated to honor one individual each year who has made a significant impact on the practice or understanding of the science and art of education. Contributions considered include new teaching techniques, the discovery of learning processes, the organization of a school or school system, the radical modification of government involvement in education or other educational innovations in education, medicine or business. The recipient may be of any discipline including but not limited to teachers, educational researchers, administrators, public officials or champions of education.

Tatum has served as president of Spelman College since 2002, and previously served as acting president at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. She has held professorships at Mount Holyoke, Wellesley College, Westfield State College, and the University of California at Santa Barbara. Tatum holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in clinical psychology, a M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan, a M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary, and a B.A. in psychology, magna cum laude, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. She has authored and presented more than 150 scholarly papers related to multicultural education and racial identity development.

One of Tatum's recent books, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race" is widely acclaimed as mandatory reading by faculty and community book clubs around the world. This book was the 1998 Multicultural Book of the Year - National Association of Multicultural Education, and is high on the must- read list of the New York Times. Tatum is recognized as one of the most influential women in the USA. Noted by Essence magazine as one of 50 Women Who Are Shaping the World (2003), and by Financial Women's Association as Public Sector Woman of the Year (2003). Raymond Wlodkowski, director of the Center for the Study of Accelerated Learning in the School of Professional Studies at Regis University, Denver, stated in his presentation of Dr. Tatum for the Brock Prize, "She is a scholar, an educator, and a leader in education. She is recognized as the most prominent promoter of racial identity development theory. This theory, a positive sense of one's self as a member of one's group is vital to psychological well-being, is proclaimed as a vital means to resolve multicultural issues in education and society. Wlodkowski concluded by saying, Beverly Daniel Tatum is like a lyricist who sings her own song; she has created ideas, carried them forward in words and actions and benefited the world."

Each year the Brock Prize Executive Committee selects nine jurors, who in turn select the Brock Laureate. Jurors include educators and champions of education, university officers, meritorious professors, business and government officials, and others committed to excellence and innovation in education. Each juror nominates one prize candidate and serves as advocate for that candidate during jury deliberation. Funding for the Brock Prize and Symposium is ensured in perpetuity by an endowment in the Brock Foundation, a portion of the Tulsa Community Foundation. For more information about the Brock Prize or the Brock Symposium, visit the Web site www.brockprize.org.

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Spelman College:
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is the only historically Black college in the nation to be included on the U.S. News and World Report's list of top 75 "Best Liberal Arts Colleges—Undergraduate," 2005. Located in Atlanta, Ga., this private, historically Black women's college boasts outstanding alumnae, including Children's Defense Fund Founder Marian Wright Edelman; U.S. Foreign Service Director Ruth Davis; authors Tina McElroy Ansa and Pearl Cleage and actress LaTanya Richardson. Over 83 percent of the full-time faculty members have Ph.D.s or other terminal degrees and the student-faculty ratio is 11:1. Annually, nearly one-third of Spelman students receive degrees in the sciences. The students number more than 2,065 and represent 45 states and 19 foreign countries. For more information regarding Spelman College, visit: www.spelman.edu.