Pitt Professor Harvey White Honored by National Conference of Minority Public Administrators

March 28, 2002

PITTBURGH—Harvey L. White, associate professor of public affairs and international development in the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), recently received the Trailblazer Award from the national Conference of Minority Public Administrators (COMPA). The award was presented to White last month at COMPA's annual meeting in Jackson, Miss.

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.

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 to 1997.

COMPA commended White for his service as chair of the International Conference on Public Management, Policy, and Management, and his successful leadership of conferences in South Africa, Ghana, and Ethiopia, as well as his efforts toward convening an upcoming conference in Mozambique on public management and development administration.

COMPA also cited White's research and advocacy for environmental justice. The organization noted White's 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 the Ph.D. degree in political science in 1985 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; the master's degree in management in 1978 from East Carolina University; and the bachelor's degree in political science and philosophy in 1972 from North Carolina Central University.

###

3/28/02/tmw