Former President of Ireland and President of the Mary Robinson Foundation
“Making Human Rights the Compass for All Ethical Globalization”
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
7:30 p.m.
Launer Auditorium • 1001 Rogers Street
Columbia College Campus
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. • Limited seating • Tickets not required
Mary Robinson, the first woman president of Ireland, has spent most of her life as a human rights advocate. The former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and founder and former president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Global Initiative, Robinson also has expanded her international leadership into business enterprise, corporate citizenship and the reform of some of the world’s most prestigious organizations.
Educated at the University of Dublin (Trinity College), the Honorable Society of King’s Inns in Dublin and Harvard Law School, she holds honorary doctorates from more than 40 universities around the world, including Yale, Brown, Columbia, Oxford and Cambridge.
In 2009, President Barack Obama awarded Robinson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, in recognition of her significant contributions to the nation and the world. She now chairs the Council of Women World Leaders and is president of the Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice.
Robinson was recently appointed to the UN Global Compact Board, a group of 20 global business, labor and social leaders working to advance universal business principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. Making human rights the compass that charts a course for globalization that is fair, just and benefits all, she retains a high visibility on pressing issues such as global health, the battle against poverty and supporting microfinance in many nations.
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 3:30 p.m. | Q & A Panel Discussion for students, faculty and staff | Dorsey Gymnasium |
| 7:30 p.m. | Lecture: “Making Human Rights the Compass for All Ethical Globalization” | Launer Auditorium |
| 2012 | Christine Brennan, Award-winning Journalist, Sports Analyst and Best-Selling Author |
| 2011 | Jim Leach, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities |
| 2010 | Michael Beschloss, award-winning presidential historian |
| 2009 | Edward James Olmos, actor, producer, director, Hollywood activist |
| 2008 | Mike Huckabee, former governer of Arkansas |
| 2007 | David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning historian |
| 2006 | Soledad O’Brien, television journalist and CNN co-anchor |
| 2005 | Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Harvard Law School graduate and environmental ethics advocate |
| 2004 | Arun Gandhi, founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence and grandson of the late Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi |
| 2003 | John Kasich, former U.S. congressman |
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