Former North Carolina Senator and Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee has been named the recipient of the 2017 Public School Forum of North Carolina Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award winner.

The award recognizes “leaders who have demonstrated innovative, creative, effective leadership for public education in North Carolina.”

Lee was the first African-American to be elected mayor of a predominately white southern town since reconstruction when he was elected Mayor of Chapel Hill in 1969.

Lee was also the first African-American to serve in multiple roles at the state level – first as a cabinet member when he was appointed to lead the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and Community Development and then as the chair of the State Board of Education.

“Howard Lee has been a leader and a trailblazer his entire life,” said Public School Forum of North Carolina chairman Michael Priddy. “His lifetime of public service in support of children, including serving as our state’s first African-American chairman of the State Board of Education, stands as a shining example of the very best of North Carolina. Howard Lee exemplifies what we look for in selecting our annual award recipient: dedication, leadership and courage.”

The award was created in 2000.

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