The voice of reform

Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 13:30 in Psychology & Sociology

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard Kennedy School alumna who at great personal risk played a key role in stabilizing and reviving a troubled nation that until recently was categorized as a “failed state,” will be the principal speaker at Afternoon Exercises of Harvard University’s 360th Commencement on May 26. “Over the course of her nearly 40 years in public service, President Sirleaf has endured death threats, incarceration, and exile, all the while challenging the inequality, corruption, and violence that defined life in Liberia for so long,” Harvard President Drew Faust said. “We are proud to welcome such a respected African leader and active proponent of democracy to speak on Commencement Day.” The first woman elected head of an African state, Sirleaf became her nation’s 24th president in the wake of the Second Liberian Civil War. She faced the daunting tasks of reconciling the country after two decades of strife, revitalizing...

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