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The Citizen

US Ambassador to the United Nations to Deliver Graduation Address at Harvard Kennedy School

By Doug Gavel

CAMBRIDGE MA — Samantha Power, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations (UN), will deliver the Graduation Address to the Harvard Kennedy School class of 2014 at 2 pm May 28 at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), HKS Dean David T. Ellwood announced today.

As the United States’ permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Power works to advance US interests, promote and defend universal values, and address pressing global challenges to international peace, security, and prosperity.  Prior to her UN appointment, she served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights on the National Security Staff at the White House.

Before joining the Obama Administration, Ambassador Power was the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, where she served as executive director of the School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and taught courses on U.S. foreign policy, human rights, and UN reform.  Her impressive resume also includes several years spent as an investigative journalist in some of the most troubled corners of the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, Sudan and Zimbabwe. She is author of the Pulitzer-Prize winning book, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide.  She earned a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

“Ambassador Power is a tremendously accomplished and dedicated public servant, whose passionate work in the area of human rights, democracy and international accountability has served as an inspiration to many — both here in the US and across the world,” said Ellwood. “We are elated that she is returning to the Kennedy School to deliver the Graduation Address for the HKS Class of 2014.”

Journalists interested in covering the address should contact the Kennedy School Communications Office at (617) 495-1115.