ACDA of Minnesota member, Diana J. Leland is the recipient of the 2008 Weston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award in the Choral Art.     The award was presented by Weston Noble on March 8 at the North Central Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) held in Fargo, North Dakota, and recognizes exemplary service and outstanding achievement in choral music. 
     Diana is a past president of ACDA of Minnesota (1979-81), the ACDA North Central Division (1984-86), and National ACDA (1989-91).   She also served as the first full-time General Manager of the Dale Warland Singers from 1980-83.    After teaching choral music for a total of 32 years, Diana retired in 2005 from Edina Public Schools (Minnesota) where she was a choral director for 28 years.   She is a past board member of the International Federation for Choral Music where she served for ten years.  Currently, Diana is an arts consultant, choral music adjudicator, and the advertising editor of the ACDA North Central Division’s publications.  She has been actively involved for the past two years as a committee member in raising funds for the F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund sponsored by ACDA of Minnesota. 
     The Weston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award was initiated in 1994 by the ACDA North Central Division in honor of Mr. Noble’s numerous contributions and achievements in the choral art and has been awarded every two years since its inception.  Noble taught music for 57 years at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and was the very first recipient of his award.