ITHACA, N.Y. -- A campus organization at Cornell University that promotes and celebrates the multi-racial experience at the university and in the Ithaca community will be the recipient of the 2002 James A. Perkins Prize for Interracial Understanding and Harmony.

The group BLEND (Bi-/Multiracial Lineages, Ethnicities, and Nationalities Discussion) and its founder and president, Cornell senior Tamika Lewis, will be presented with the eighth-annual Perkins Prize, including an award of $5,000, by Cornell President Hunter Rawlings during a ceremony Tuesday, April 9, at 4:15 p.m. in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall on campus.

Also awarded will be two finalists for the prize: Salah Hassan, associate professor of Africana studies and chair of the Department of History of Art, for his organization of the 2001 Blackness in Color Art Exhibition at Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art; and the seminar series "Leadership, Management, and Diversity in Corporate America" and the course "Diversity and Inclusion in Organizations," developed by Quinetta Roberson, assistant professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The two finalists each will be awarded cash prizes of $1,000.

BLEND, which was founded by Lewis in the fall semester of 2001, focuses on issues involved with being of mixed-racial background. The organization has hosted a film series at Robert Purcell Community Center, showing films about interracial relationships; co-sponsored with the Cornell Filipino Association a lecture by Melissa Howard of MTV'sThe Real World , titled "The 'Real' Story on Ethnic Identity"; and also participated in the Anti-Racism Teach-In on campus Nov. 11, presenting a workshop on the mixed-race experience. BLEND also coordinated a program with the Greater Ithaca Activities Center and Beverly J. Martin Elementary School in Ithaca titled MIRAR (Multicultural Initiative for Racial Awareness through Reading). The program's goals are to foster racial awareness in children and, in the process, hone their reading skills by using books that incorporate multiracial, interracial and multicultural themes. In the spring semester, BLEND brought an award-winning photo-text exhibit to Cornell titled "Of Many Colors: Portraits of Multiracial Families."

Lewis explains that the mixed race "voice" is one that hasn't been heard much at Cornell, and BLEND promotes the importance of maintaining an open dialogue about mixed-race issues and building bridges and understanding between every racial and ethnic group with the Cornell community. "In a way, mixed people are almost a living 'bridge' between the races," Lewis said, "and BLEND hopes to take advantage of the inherent cultural connections we have between groups to create the interracial harmony BLEND aims to promote."

The Perkins Prize was established in 1994 by then Cornell trustee Thomas W. Jones to promote efforts for the advancement of interracial understanding and community on the Cornell campus and to honor Cornell President Emeritus James A. Perkins.

"President Perkins made the historic decision to increase very significantly the enrollment of African-American and other minority students at Cornell," said Jones, who was a Cornell undergraduate and leader during the student takeover of Willard Straight Hall in 1969. "[President Perkins] did so with the conviction that Cornell could serve the nation by nurturing this underutilized reservoir of human talent. He also believed that the great American universities should lead the way in helping America to surmount the racial agony evidenced by the civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. President Perkins made a courageous and wise decision and, as such, merits recognition and appreciation."

The Perkins Prize is awarded annually to the program or organization -- or student, faculty or staff member -- making the most significant contribution to furthering the ideal of university community, while respecting the values of racial diversity.

The prize is administered through Cornell's Office of the Dean of Students, and the winners are chosen by members of a selection committee consisting of students, faculty members and administrators.

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EDITORS: You are invited to assign coverage of the Perkins Prize ceremony, Tuesday, April 9, at 4:15 p.m. in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall at Cornell. For more information on the prize or on the awards ceremony, contact Susan McNamara in the dean of students office, (607) 255-1115, .