Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the United Nations' World Food Program, will speak at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's 210th commencement ceremony.
As part of the ceremony, Cousin will accept an honorary degree for her efforts as a leader of one of the biggest humanitarian organizations in the world. Her work has been instrumental in heightening awareness of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity around the world.
“At Rensselaer, we prepare our students to solve the greatest challenges of our global society,” university president Shirley Ann Jackson said. “These challenges are complex and interconnected; they require solutions based in deep scientific understanding and cutting-edge technology. We are delighted that the Rensselaer community will benefit from the insights and experiences of Ertharin Cousin, who employs multicultural, multinational, multidimensional, technologically based strategies at the World Food Programme, with the ultimate goal of ending hunger worldwide.”
Other speakers at the event will include David Skorton, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, and acclaimed physicist and Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg. They will attend the President’s Commencement Colloquy on May 27.
“Rensselaer is establishing a new paradigm for the technological research university that we term ‘The New Polytechnic,’ which is predicated on the necessity of pooling talents and perspectives in order to address the great global challenges,” Jackson said. “So we are pleased to welcome three honorands who have unified people and ideas with such resounding success.”
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