Cambridge, MA—The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) is pleased to announce that human rights activists and Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn will join the Center for Public Leadership as Hauser Visiting Leaders during the spring and fall 2017 semesters.
Kristof and WuDunn are well-known for their reporting around the globe. From Tiananmen Square to the Iraq War and the conflicts in Sudan and Darfur, they have covered some of the most notable social and political crises of our time, especially in women’s rights and social innovation. During their time on campus, Kristof and WuDunn will contribute to CPL’s community of scholarship and learning, developing student mentorship and engagement opportunities within HKS and greater Harvard. Active crusaders for young entrepreneurs and social enterprise, the couple will also spend time with faculty and students affiliated with the school’s newly launched Social Innovation + Change Initiative.
Kristof and WuDunn are the authors of Half the Sky: From Oppression to Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the inspiration of the Half the Sky Movement that seeks to ignite the change needed to put an end to the oppression of women and girls worldwide. Most recently, they wrote A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity, which explores the historical, cultural, and evolutionary aspects of philanthropy and service, and offers advice for how each of us can individually scale solutions to address challenges in communities around the world. Kristof and WuDunn are also the authors of China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power and Thunder from the East: Portrait of a Rising Asia.
Says CPL faculty co-director David Gergen, “Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn are remarkable examples of moral and physical fortitude in the global fight for social justice. They’ve worked for decades to advocate for human rights in communities around the world, with a tenacity and authority that is unmatched. It will be an absolute privilege for our students—including CPL graduate fellows in our social innovation and change program—to learn from them over the next year.”
Kristof is a graduate of Harvard College, a former member of Harvard University’s Board of Overseers, and the 2013 recipient of University’s Goldsmith Award for Career Excellence in Journalism. He studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. WuDunn, a graduate of Cornell University, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and Harvard Business School, began her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. The pair have worked as journalists and columnists with The New York Times for three decades.
Kristof and WuDunn will first visit CPL and Harvard Kennedy School on March 6, 2017, headlining a public event at 6:00 p.m.