Dr. Arlette Miller Smith, Dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Programs at St. John Fisher College, was recently named a 2008 recipient of the prestigious Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award.

The award recognizes New York women who selflessly dedicate themselves to improving the quality of life available to the poor, the powerless, and the persecuted. Dr. Miller Smith accepted the award at the Seventh Annual Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Awards Jubilee in Albany, N.Y.

The Harriet Tubman March 10 Coalition played an integral part in getting the signatures needed for the New York State Legislature to establish March 10 as an official state holiday in honor of Harriet Tubman. Tubman died on March 10, 1913. This holiday commemorates Tubman’s work as an abolitionist and suffragist, and her rescue missions along the Underground Railroad. It is the first holiday to be celebrated during the month of March, which is also Women’s History Month. The Coalition also established the Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Awards Jubilee, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation whose sole mission is to establish the tradition of holding an annual event on the Saturday closest to March 10.

Dr. Miller Smith came to Fisher in 1997 with a dual appointment as an Assistant Professor of English and Associate Dean for Diversity Programs. In 2002, she was named Dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Programs. Her responsibilities include, but are not limited to: assisting in the recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students from underrepresented groups; developing programs to address the needs of students from different backgrounds and identities; participating in curriculum development in the areas of diversity and multiculturalism; and fostering initiatives that promote civility, understanding, and a respectful campus environment.

Dr. Miller Smith serves on several local boards and community initiatives including BOA Editions, the Urban League of Rochester; the former Bi-Racial Community Partners Program (currently known as the Mosaic Partnership Program); the Commission on Race and Ethnicity; and was a member of the New York-Penn Regional Red Cross Blood Services Board.

She is also the founder and executive director of AKOMA, Rochester’s African American Women’s Gospel Choir.