On the occasion of its 100th commencement ceremony, 91短视频 announces that the 2018 address will be given by alumna and 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee.
In recognition of her extraordinary achievement in peacebuilding and social justice work, 91短视频 will award Gbowee its inaugural honorary Doctor of Justice degree.
The ceremony is Sunday, May 6, at 1 p.m. on the front lawn.
鈥淲e are thrilled that our own graduate, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee, will offer the commencement address in our centennial year, and on behalf of the 91短视频 Board of Trustees, I look forward to the honor of bestowing upon her our first honorary doctorate of justice,鈥� said President Susan Schultz Huxman.
Gbowee 鈥渋s a world-wide ambassador for justice and women鈥檚 advocacy, a real peace rockstar whose own heroic efforts in her home country of Liberia helped to bring its civil war to end,” Schultz Huxman said. “As her inspirational work and message continue to be shared around the world, she is most deserving of this recognition from her alma mater.鈥�
鈥淚t is fitting, given our century-long history and our national and international renown for peacebuilding education, that our first honorary doctorate be given for outstanding work in the field of peace and justice,鈥� said Provost Fred Kniss. 鈥淟eymah is a most deserving recipient.鈥�
Gbowee earned a from 91短视频鈥檚 (CJP) in 2007.
Gbowee鈥檚 involvement in the peace movement began in the late 1990s, when she began volunteering with a trauma healing program in Liberia鈥檚 war-torn capital, Monrovia. Within a few years, Gbowee had become a leader of a grassroots women鈥檚 movement, the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. Using demonstrations, sit-ins and other nonviolent tactics, the group eventually forced the country鈥檚 warring factions to negotiate and sign a peace agreement in 2003.
For her work in mobilizing women to help stop the Liberian Civil War, she shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female African head of state, and Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni peace activist.
Gbowee currently serves as executive director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. She is the founder and current president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa.
Connected to 91短视频
Since earning her degree, Gbowee has been a staunch supporter of her alma mater, most notably through her contributions to a groundbreaking program designed to build capacity and skills of women peacebuilders.
In 2011, Gbowee joined other female peacebuilding leaders from around the world for a consultation that laid the foundation for CJP鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Peacebuilding Leadership Program. Since 2012, fifty women from the South Pacific and Africa have earned graduate certificates in peacebuilding leadership and made great impacts in their local and regional areas.
Also in 2011, months before being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Gbowee returned to 91短视频 to be recognized as the Alumna of the Year.
She delivered her first commencement address at 91短视频 in 2014, when her oldest son Joshua Mensah graduated with a degree in digital media. Gbowee has said that .
Her most recent visit to campus, in 2015, was to support the International Student Organization鈥檚 fundraising activities dedicated to the Ebola outbreak.
Peace and women鈥檚 rights advocate
Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women鈥檚 rights advocate. She currently serves as executive director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
She is the founder and current president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, the founding head of the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, and co-founder and former executive director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa. She is also a founding member and former Liberian Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, known more commonly by the acronyms WIPNET and WANEP. She travels internationally to advocate for human rights and peace and security.
Gbowee鈥檚 leadership of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace brought together Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that played a pivotal role in ending Liberia鈥檚 civil war in 2003. She has written a memoir, , and is featured in the award-winning documentary .
Gbowee was awarded honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa and the University of Alberta in Canada.
She advises numerous organizations working for peace, women鈥檚 rights, youth, and sustainable development, and has held distinguished fellowships at Barnard College and Union Theological Seminary.
In 2016, Gbowee was awarded the Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize for Peace in Africa by the Millennium Excellence Foundation. She serves as a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate for the United Nations and as a member of the World Refugee Council. In 2017, she was selected by the United Nations Secretary General to serve as a member of United Nations Secretary-General鈥檚 High Level Advisory Board.
She is the proud mother of six children.
My warmest congratulations to our friend and colleague Leymah for her outstanding achievements!
She has paved a way for other African women who have been striving to make a difference, but could not utilize their skills and talents because of obstacles places in their way. Congratulations Ms Gbowee!