"Clearly [Johnson-Sirleaf] represents a terribly important part of the world, but she also will speak not only has a regional leader but as someone who has experience with human rights and democracy, and those values very much have a place here at Dartmouth," College President James Wright said. "She's a wonderful international figure. She's a tremendous leader in Africa."
Johnson-Sirleaf, nicknamed the "Iron Lady," was elected president of Liberia in 2005. Born in Monrovia, Liberia, she attended the College of West Africa before coming to America, where she studied at the University of Colorado and received her masters in public administration from Harvard University.
Johnson-Sirleaf was the first woman to serve as Liberia's minister of finance, a position she held in from 1972-73, but fled the country to escape execution after a military coup. She returned to campaign for senate but was imprisoned and then exiled in 1985.
After leaving Liberia, Johnson-Sirleaf worked as an economist for the World Bank and as the African director of the United Nations Development Program. Johnson-Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 1997 to protest Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's authoritarian regime and unsuccessfully ran for president, finishing second out of 13 candidates. After the election, she fled the country again to escape charges of treason.
When civil war forced Taylor to flee the country in 2003, Johnson-Sirleaf helped Liberia launch a successful campaign for president. She pledged to encourage economic development and unite the country, inviting groups who had opposed her to join her government.
The commencement speaker is selected by the College president from a group chosen by the Council on Honorary Degrees, which is composed of three faculty members from the College and one faculty member each from Dartmouth Medical School, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Tuck School of Business.
Rose Mutiso '08, founder and one of the leaders of Students for Africa, a group that promotes discussion of African issues on campus, said she was excited to hear that Johnson would be speaking at graduation.
"As an African woman, I feel that this woman is a real beacon of hope for a new kind of leadership in Africa" Mutiso said. "It will be a great privilege to listen to her address the graduates at my graduation."
Wright will also speak at the event, as will the Class of 2008 valedictorian, who will be announced during commencement week, after final grades have been calculated.
The other honorary degree recipients will be Thomas Cech, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, actress Cicely Tyson, Ada Deer, former director of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Richard Hill '41 Tu'42, former chair and chief executive officer of the First National Bank of Boston and Chairman Emeritus of the Dartmouth Board of Trustees, Martin Feldstein, the George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University, Evelyn Fox Keller, professor emeritus of the history and philosophy of science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ralph Manuel '58, former dean of the College,
Past commencement speakers have included Treasury Secretary and former CEO of Goldman Sachs Hank Paulson '68 in 2007 and Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel in 2006.
