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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 7, 2005) — For more than fifty years, the New York Southern Society has granted Queens University of Charlotte the privilege of bestowing two Algernon Sydney Sullivan awards each year – one to a member of the graduating class, and the other to a person who is affiliated with the University in some other capacity. The Society specifies the following: “The award is a continuing reminder that the noblest qualities are those characteristics of heart, mind, and conduct which evidence a love for, and helpfulness to, other men and women. True nobility is found in those who move beyond the narrow circle of their self-interest and spend themselves in the interest of humanity.”
The community recipient of the 2005 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is a civic leader in education, employment and antipoverty efforts. Known for her “quiet strength” and dedication to family, she embodies that beautiful, rare combination of intelligence, confidence and modesty. Those who know her best call her “a treasure” in their lives and in this community. Her deep love of Charlotte takes root in the fact that this city is constantly reinventing itself yet still adheres to its core values of compassion and respect for others—two values that could also be attributed to this woman, “a pillar of our community.”
In 1990, this year’s recipient shared an idea with a representative of the Mecklenburg Historical Association. It was the dream of bringing together the history, arts and culture of our region under one roof, where visitors could experience a comprehensive interpretation of post-Civil War southern society. One decade and $8.2 million in capital later, that dream opened its doors as the Levine Museum of the New South. This woman, now founding chairman emerita of the museum, brought to our city a forum for lifelong learning and thoughtful discussion, a forum which one local arts publication called “an integral part of the cultural landscape.”
A 1955 graduate of Duke University, she serves on the Duke Board of Trustees and has endowed a professorship of history, African American studies and sociology. Other organizations in which she plays a major role include the Public Libraries of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County; the National and North Carolina Humanities Councils; Making a Difference in Communities, a group dedicated to expanding opportunity, reducing poverty and building inclusive civic cultures in the South; and the Echo Foundation, an organization that calls community members to action for human dignity, justice and moral courage. She is the recipient of the 1997 Lifetime Achievement Award from Leadership Charlotte and the 2005 National Conference for Community and Justice Humanitarian Award.
One community leader has said of this recipient and her husband, “You always find them on the right side of issues. They are thoughtful, kind and humble people.” She and her family quite literally have made the world a more beautiful place, for her brother and his children gave the blooming garden around the Queens sign on Burwell Circle in honor of her sister-in-law, Ruth Dalton ’48.
The recipient of the 2005 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is someone embodies nobility, in that she truly spends herself in the interest of humanity. We are proud to present this year’s award to:
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