Dr. Ulysses Van Spiva, former member of the Virginia Beach School Board, recently received the 2008 Benjamin Elijah Mays Lifetime Achievement Award from the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) Council of Urban Board of Education (CUBE).

Spiva, a professor and dean emeritus at Old Dominion University, was honored at the recent CUBE 41st Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Spiva started his career as a math teacher. He served as a policy fellow for the U.S. Office of Education in the 1970s. Since the 1980s, Spiva has been a member of several community and civic groups. He was nominated for the CUBE honor by Virginia Beach School Board member Sandra Smith-Jones. The Virginia Beach School Board recognized Spiva for this achievement at its October 21 meeting.

“NSBA is honored to present this award to Dr. Spiva,” said Katrina Kelly, director of CUBE. “In many ways, Dr. Spiva’s career mirrors that of Benjamin Mays – dedicated scholars, professors, mentors, and community activists who demonstrated outstanding leadership through service on their local school boards. We want to recognize Ulysses Spiva as someone who has made a great impact on the lives of many children, and as a role model with passion for excellence in scholarship and civic responsibility.”

The Mays Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual who, for the span of his or her lifetime, has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to representing the educational needs of urban school children through his or her service as a local school board member. Benjamin Elijah Mays, whom the award honors, was a teacher, minister, author and civil rights activist who served as president of Morehouse College in Atlanta and the Atlanta School Board from 1970 to 1981.

For more information about CUBE’s Benjamin Mays Lifetime Achievement Award, please visit http://www.nsba.org/cube. The Council of Urban Board of Education was established in 1967 by the National School Boards Association as a national membership organization governed solely by urban school board members. It is dedicated to the needs and interests of urban school boards. CUBE member districts total more than 12,000 schools with a collective budget near $80 million. CUBE helps urban school board find solutions to challenges at the local level and seeks to improve their policy making effectiveness.