Coastal Carolina University President Ronald R. Ingle has been awarded the Grace Palmer Humanitarian Award by the Action Council for Cross Cultural Mental Health and Human Services, a statewide organization devoted to multicultural educational training and development. The award is named for the late Grace Palmer of Columbia, S.C., an educator who was active in promoting the arts, social progress and religious faith. The award is given annually as part of the Cross Cultural Conference for Mental Health and Human Services, which was held in Myrtle Beach Feb. 23 to 26.

Ingle has served as president of Coastal Carolina University since 1993, when the institution became an independent public university. As president Ingle has been instrumental in the development of strategic partnerships which have strengthened Coastal Carolina's long tradition of cultural diversity and university-community collaboration. Ingle spearheaded the visit of the Freedom Schooner Amistad to South Carolina in fall 2001, an event that engaged the entire community in a dialogue about racial diversity and reconciliation. Ingle is a founding leader of the North Eastern Strategic Alliance (NESA), a 10-county economic development initiative anchored by Coastal Carolina and Francis Marion University that seeks to address urgent social and economic disparities among the 10 northeast South Carolina counties.

Born in Moncks Corner, S.C., President Ingle earned a bachelor's degree in English from Wofford College in 1962 and a master's degree in higher education administration from Florida State University in 1963. After a tour of active duty as an officer in the U.S. Army from 1964 to 1966, he earned a doctorate in psychology from The Ohio State University in 1972.