It's more than coming home again. It's even better than that for Claudette Reid. The doctoral candidate in the Program in Higher Education, who was formerly the Director of Student Aid at TC from 1993-96, is the 2001 recipient of the American Association for Higher Education's (AAHE) prestigious K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award.

This is the third year that Cross, a long-time higher education leader, administrator, author, and teacher, has sponsored the award. It recognizes graduate students planning a higher education career who are committed to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and in others. In the confirmation letter Reid received from Yolanda T. Moses, President of the AAHE, Reid was commended for the "leadership you have demonstrated at your institution and in your community."

In his nomination letter to the AAHE, President Levine wrote about Reid's work in transforming the Office of Student Aid, her "superb" effort as Levine's teaching assistant, her initiative as an adjunct instructor in establishing a minor in Gender Studies at her alma mater, St. Francis College, her supervision of the day-to-day research of Levine's Annenberg Foundation grant on America's education schools, and her active engagement in the Women's Caucus of the AAHE.

Levine wrote, "As diverse as these activities may appear at first glance, the common thread which binds them is Claudette's tenacious desire to get involved in projects and tasks that are designed to empower, enable and ennoble individuals, whether they be her students in the traditional classroom setting, or those being prepared in the classroom of life."

In his letter seconding the nomination, Associate Dean William J. Baldwin wrote, "Across the board, the assessments are uniform: she [Reid] is first rate. That is not solely a reflection on her academic strengths, which are considerable, but references as well as her broader contribution to the academic community within the department..."

When hearing about the news of the award, Reid said, "It started to dawn on me that for two years I've seen K. Patricia Cross awardees stand in front of everybody at the conference and admired their accomplishments but I never stopped to think that I could possibly be a member of that select group. I'm grateful to President Levine, to my department, and TC as a whole for giving me this opportunity to shine."

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001