U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon honored

The Harvard Foundation has named U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the 2014 Humanitarian of the Year. The award will be presented to Ban at a ceremony on Dec. 2.

“The faculty and students of the Harvard Foundation are pleased to honor Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as the 2014 Humanitarian of the Year,” said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation and professor of neurology. “His remarkable leadership of the international body for peaceful cooperation, United Nations, as demonstrated by his compassionate initiatives on human trafficking, climate change, and Ebola, all attest to his significant humanitarian contributions. Mr. Ban Ki-moon represents the kind of role model that the Harvard Foundation wishes to present to Harvard students as a symbol of humanitarianism.”

During his visit, Ban will meet with Harvard President Drew Faust, as well as faculty and students during the Harvard Foundation’s scheduled programs.

A Harvard Kennedy School alumnus, Ban, M.C./M.P.A. ’84, is the fourth U.N. secretary-general honored by the Harvard Foundation during the past 30 years, following Kofi Annan in 1998, Boutros Boutros-Ghali in 1994, and Javier Pérez de Cuéllar in 1985.

The Humanitarian Award, which honors the late Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church from 1974 to 2011, will be presented at the Memorial Church at 5 p.m., Dec. 2. The event is open to all Harvard students, faculty, and staff.