Ray Dalton, executive director of Cornell's Office of Minority Educational Affairs (OMEA), was awarded the prestigious William H. Myers Multicultural Professional Service Award at the 2008 National Black Student Leadership Development Conference in Washington, D.C., in early January for his work in multicultural affairs at Cornell. The Myers service award is given by the Stuart Educational Leadership Group to recognize and honor the exceptional contributions of multicultural affairs professionals in preparing student leaders, mentoring students and colleagues, and serving their colleges and communities.

Holding his current position since 1994, Dalton has led Cornell's commitment to minority academic achievement, recruitment and retention. For the past 16 years, he also has been a senior lecturer in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, where he has developed and teaches a course, Art and the Multicultural Experience. Dalton is active in numerous university committees and is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the National Organization of Minority Architects and the National College Art Association. Dalton is also a board trustee of Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, N.Y.

Dalton was nominated for the Myers service award by Ernie Jolly, co-president of Cornell's Black Students United; DeAngelo Washington, assistant director in OMEA; and Leon Lawrence, director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusiveness in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning.

"My first encounter with Ray Dalton was during the 2005 Pre-freshman Summer Program," says Jolly. "Since then, he has provided me with a servant-leader leadership model: He loves his students and is committed to seeing us succeed. The Myers Award was our way of saying 'thank you' and 'job well done.' He truly deserved it."

The Myers service award is given in memory of William H. Myers, former assistant dean of students at Rowan University in Glassboro, N. J.