Ban Ki-moon wins ‘Humanitarian of the Year’ award from Harvard

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will receive the “2014 Humanitarian of the Year’ award from Harvard University, his alma mater. The prize was instated to honor the late Rev. Peter Gomes who lead the university’s Memorial Church from 1970 to 2011.

According to the Harvard Gazette, the school’s official news outlet, on Sunday, Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, said, “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.”

A graduate from the Department of Diplomat at Seoul National University in 1970, Ban received his master of public administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1985, while serving as a career diplomat.

The award ceremony will take place at the Memorial Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, with faculty and students in attendance. After delivering a commemorative speech to express his emotion at the ceremony, Ban will pay a courtesy visit to Drew Faust, the first female president of the university, and meet with a number of students and professors.