Mark Musick presented Abbott Award by Compact for Faculty Diversity

The award was established in 1997 in honor of Frank Abbott, one of the architects of the Compact, for his contributions to the Institute on Teaching and Mentoring. It was created to honor institutions or individuals who have exhibited extraordinary levels of leadership, commitment and support for the Institute and its goal of increasing minority faculty diversity.

Mark Musick, who retired this summer after 30 years at the Southern Regional Education Board, the last 16 of them as president, started the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program in 1993. The Doctoral Scholars Program hosts the annual Institute, the largest gathering of minority doctoral scholars in the nation. Musick now is holder of the James H. Quillen Chair of Excellence in Teaching and Learning at East Tennessee State University.

The Southern Regional Education Board, headquartered in Atlanta, was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each state is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees.