The Guarini Institute for Government and Leadership at Saint Peter’s University will welcome New Jersey Senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Robert Menendez ’76, who will host the 2014 Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 30, at 3:00 p.m. in The Duncan Family Sky Room at the Mac Mahon Student Center. The event will honor New Jersey women for exceptional achievements. The ceremony will feature retired Ambassador to the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women Meryl Frank as emcee, as well as keynote speaker U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.
“I am especially excited about Ambassador Power’s visit to Saint Peter’s University,” said Nicholas A. Chiaravalloti, J.D., associate vice president for international outreach and special programs for the Guarini Institute for Government and Leadership. “As America’s representative at the U.N., she works to advance U.S. interests, promote and defend universal values, and address pressing global challenges to global peace, security and prosperity.”
Power began her career by covering the Yugoslav Wars as a journalist. From 1998 to 2002, she served as the founding executive director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, where she later served as the Anna Lindh Professor of Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy. She was a senior adviser to then Senator Barack Obama, and subsequently joined the Obama State Department transition team in late November 2008 as special assistant to President Obama. She was also named senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights on the National Security Council and was responsible for running the Office of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights — positions that she held from January 2009 to March 2013. In April 2012, President Obama chose her to chair a newly formed Atrocities Prevention Board.
During her time in office, Power focused on such issues as the reform of the United Nations; the promotion of women’s and LGBT rights; the promotion of religious freedom and the protection of religious minorities; the protection of refugees; the campaign against human trafficking; and the promotion of human rights and democracy, including in the Middle East, North Africa, Sudan and Burma.
Power has written and co-edited four books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, a study of the U.S. foreign policy response to genocide.
Each year, the Guarini Institute for Government and Leadership brings national and state leaders to campus to discuss public policy issues affecting the world. The Institute sponsors lectures and programs to promote critical thinking, debate and careers in public service. It also sponsors periodic public affairs forums and conducts several United Nations internship programs. The Institute is named after the Honorable Frank J. Guarini H ’94, a retired New Jersey senator who maintains a strong interest in education, environment and land use issues.
“The Institute hosts politically related events throughout the academic year to encourage critical thinking and debate on public policy issues amongst the students of Saint Peter’s,” said Chiaravalloti. “It is extremely important that they know what is taking place in the world, and that they become educated and involved in current events.”
To attend the 2014 Evangelina Menendez Trailblazer Awards Ceremony, please call (973) 645-5967 or email Madeline Rentas at mrentas@saintpeters.edu. To learn more about future Guarini Institute for Government and Leadership events at Saint Peter’s University, please visit saintpeters.edu/guarini-institute/news-and-events.