Dr. Horace Mann, Buffalo State College distinguished service professor emeritus of Exceptional Education, was awarded the Council for Exceptional Children's Romaine Mackie Award for Leadership and Service. The award was made at the council's international meeting in New York City in early April.

Mann, an internationally known leader in the field and authority on exceptional education who retired from Buffalo State in 1992 after 38 years of service, is credited with turning what was a small exceptional education program when he arrived into one of the largest undergraduate and master's degree programs of its type in the United States. At the time of his retirement, his colleagues established a scholarship in his name.

He has been a board member of or a consultant for many state and national agencies concerned with individuals with special needs, and served as president of the American Association on Mental Retardation and of the Foundation for Exceptional Children. In 1965 he was invited to the White House for the signing of a major bill on mental retardation.

Last year, Mann received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal from Brooklyn College. He holds numerous honors, including the 1996 Burton Blatt Humanitarian Award, given by the Division on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Council for Exceptional Children, the Distinguished Educator Award of the American Association on Mental Retardation, the first distinguished service award of the International Council for Exceptional Children's Teacher Education Division and a State University of New York honorary doctorate of humane letters.

Mann holds bachelor of arts degrees in sociology and psychology from Brooklyn College, a master's degree in history from Columbia University and a doctorate in special education from Pennsylvania State University - the first such degree granted there.

Mann, who has worked tirelessly to improve services for people with disabilities and to make communities better understand the needs and capabilities of those with developmental disabilities, last year made a gift of $1 million to Buffalo State College.

The Council for Exceptional Children is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities, and/or the gifted. It advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards, provides continual professional development, advocates for newly and historically underserved individuals with exceptionalities and helps professionals obtain conditions and resources necessary for effective professional practice.