Saint Augustine's College President Dianne Boardley Suber was chosen by a panel of her peers to receive the Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award from the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). The award honors a commitment to diversifying the field of education with high quality leaders and to ensuring the best education for all students, especially those who are poor or minority.

Suber is Saint Augustine's College's first female president. This year marks her 10th year leading the institution.

Effie H. Jones was a school administrator, teacher, counselor, organizer of the Office of Minority Affairs at AASA and a champion of women and minorities in educational leadership. Throughout her career, Jones was devoted to equity and opportunity in education and to closing the gap between the children who have and the ones who don't by increasing the numbers of women and minority school leaders.

Suber has a collection of turtles. It was Jones who gave Suber her first turtle. Jones said to Suber, "If ever anyone is a risk taker, it is you." Suber said she carries Jones with her always and wears the turtle often as a reminder of that assessment.

"I like to believe that I really understand the real meaning of advocacy and that God gave me the talents and the personality to be a real advocate and that my charges are children—6 months, 26 years old. It doesn't matter," Suber said. "I am supposed to leave it better than I found it and in order to do that I must be able and willing to ‘stick my head out and put my tail on the line.'"

The Dr. Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award will be presented Feb. 12, 2010, during the National Conference on Education in Pheonix, Ariz.

Related Links

1. http://www.st-aug.edu