Liberian human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee will be the College’s 2016 Commencement speaker.
Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Ellen Sirleaf and Tawakkol Karman in 2011 for her work in leading a women’s peace movement that helped end the Second Liberian War in 2003. She is the founder of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, which provides educational and leadership opportunities in female empowerment to women in West Africa.
Gbowee earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in 2007 and has received several honorary degrees from institutions around the world. She co-founded the Women Peace and Security Network Africa and serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Nobel Women’s Initiative and the PeaceJam Foundation. She is also a Global Ambassador for Oxfam.
A mother of seven, Gbowee is a frequent speaker on women’s rights and peace initiatives.
Correction Appended: (April 14, 2016)
The original version of this article stated that Gbowee is a mother of six children, but in fact, she is a mother of seven.
