The peace lecture was a longtime tradition of the former Cranbrook Peace Foundation before the organization was dissolved and Wayne State's Center for Peace and Conflict Studies adopted the tradition last year. The center, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary year, incorporated the Cranbrook lecture into its annual Community Peacemaker Awards program. The program recognizes individual contributions to domestic and international peace.
Robinson, a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will speak on "Challenges to Global Peacemaking" at the 3 p.m. program. At the 5:30 p.m. gathering, she will receive the Cranbrook Peace Award. Receiving the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies' Community Peacemaker Award during the evening program will be Victor Ghalib Begg, chairman of the Islamic Council of Michigan, and Gail Katz, president of Wisdom and chair of World Sabbath. Also to be honored by the center are Joella Gipson, professor emeritus in the WSU College of Education (Lifetime Achievement Award); and Eugene Perrin, M.D. (Founders Award).
Robinson was inaugurated as the seventh president of Ireland, and the first woman to hold the office, in December of 1990. As founder and president of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, she advises businesses worldwide today on ethical practices and management. She also chairs the Council of Women World Leaders. In 2005, she was named a "Hero and Icon" by Time magazine as one of its top 100 men and women whose "power, talent or moral example is transforming the world." She is chancellor of the University of Dublin and professor of practice in international affairs at Columbia University. She was educated at Trinity College, Kings Inns Dublin and Harvard Law School.
Both the lecture and the evening awards program, which will be followed by a strolling dinner reception, are open to the public. Admission to the lecture at WSU's Community Arts Auditorium is free. Tickets for the Peacemaker Awards presentation at NextEnergy Center are $65 and reservations are required. To RSVP online, visit http://events.wayne.edu/rsvp/peacemaker-awards/. For more information, call the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at 313-577-3453.
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