Event

Join us for The 4th Annual Distinguished Lecture in African Studies featuring Madam Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Prize Laureate. She will deliver a talk on the topic of "Peace and Security” from her experience as a Liberian Peace Activist who was featured in the acclaimed documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Register now for this event on October 21, 2024, at 5:30pm, on the Colloquium Level of Jon M. Huntsman Hall.

2011 Nobel Prize Laureate Leymah Roberta Gbowee is a Liberian Peace Activist, Trained Social Worker and Women’s Rights Advocate. She is the Founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa (GPFA). She currently serves as the Executive Director of Gender, Law and Transformative Peace Initiative  of the City of New York (CUNY) School of Law, U.S.A. She  was the former Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York, USA, Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A) and a Founding Member and former Liberia Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET).

She currently serves as a Member of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocate and alumina for the United Nations (UN) and UN High Level Advisory Board on Mediation.She is a Member of the World Refugee Council (WRC), African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning, International Honorary Committee of the Global Biosphere Institute, Aurora Prize Selection Committee and the Hilton Humanitarian Prize Jury.

She serves on various other boards across the world, holds a M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA), and  Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa and Doctor of Humane Letter from various universities across the world.

She is married to Mr. Jay Kesselee Fatormah and is the proud mother of Eight (8) wonderful children. Madam Gbowee is a Christian and proudly calls herself a “Daughter of Glorious Jesus”.