FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — School of Law Dean Cynthia Nance received the Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Affirmative Action.

The award was presented at the association’s annual conference, April 25 to 28 in Austin, Texas. Nance was also a keynote speaker at the conference.

Recipients are leaders from corporations, higher education, politics, government (state, local or federal and executive, legislative, military or judicial) or the nonprofit sector. They are known for their sacrifice for equal opportunity in employment, education, contracting and other sectors.

The award is named after the “Father of Affirmative Action,” Arthur A. Fletcher. Fletcher served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Labor Department during the Nixon administration and is given credit for creating the Philadelphia Plan, the first affirmative action program that established employment goals for federal contractors in the construction industry. He devoted his life to preserve the promise of the Constitution for all Americans. The Arthur A. Fletcher Lifetime Achievement Award was established to recognize individuals who, like Fletcher, have devoted a lifetime of service and dedication to the principles of affirmative action - access, equity and diversity.

Nance earned her Juris Doctor with distinction and a Master of Arts in finance from the University of Iowa. She received her undergraduate degree in economics, from Chicago State University, with high honors.

Chancellor John A. White appointed Nance as dean of the School of Law in July 2006. Nance has been recognized internationally for her scholarship in labor law and has also been honored as a Woman of Distinction and an Arkansas Bar Association Outstanding Lawyer-Citizen. She received the NIA Heritage Award for professional achievement and the Northwest Arkansas Martin Luther King Individual Achievement Award.

Frank H. Wu, dean of Wayne State University Law School, was also awarded the lifetime achievement award during the April 2007 AAAA conference.

The American Association for Affirmative Action is a national membership organization of professionals who work in equal employment opportunity, affirmative action and diversity.