The music of Callbaxx a cappella resonated throughout Willard Straight Hall as the group performed at the James A. Perkins Prize award ceremony yesterday. The annual award is given to “the program or organization making the most significant contribution to furthering the ideal of University community while respecting the values of racial diversity.”Acceptance speech: President David Skorton pays tribute to Olivia Tai, who accepted the Perkins Prize award for MOSAIC.

 While the future of the global economy remains uncertain, many look to the lessons of the past for advice on how to tackle today’s problems. Kirstin Downey, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist from the Washington Post, explained this philosophy yesterday while discussing her recently released biography The Woman Behind the New Deal:  The Life of Frances Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Secre­tary of Labor and His Moral Conscience.

Fannie Coralie Perkins was born in Boston in 1880 and quickly realized that her life would be based around helping others. Perkins, who later changed her name to Frances, worked with Jane Addams at the Hull House in Chicago and later worked for the Tammany Hall political machine and then-governor of New York, Al Smith.

Each year, a group is recognized for it efforts to increase diversity and social acceptance with the Perkins Prize. Announced last week, the 2008 prize has been awarded to Black Students United for their sponsorship of the “Questions Out of a Hat” event.

According to Christine Forester of the Office of the Dean of Students — which administers the award — there were 11 groups considered this year. Each member of the selection committee rated all of the applications on a scale of 1 to 5 in the categories of participation, sustainability of effort, promotion of values and enhancement of abilities.