Carrie Hessler-Radelet, Doctor of Laws

Member of a four-generation Peace Corps family, you volunteered with your husband in Western Samoa, living in a thatch hut, teaching high school, helping to design a national public awareness campaign on disaster preparedness, and building the kind of “powerful relationships of trust” that have represented the heart of the corps since its founding. When years later your grandmother asked, “What are you going to do with your one life?” you chose to devote it to global health. As an international consultant, you lived and worked in more than 50 countries, and when the chance came to reconnect with the Peace Corps you leapt. Under your leadership the corps has rethought every aspect of its operations. You have encouraged greater use by volunteers of technology, tackled head on issues of volunteer safety, and put more emphasis on helping returned volunteers transition to careers. Applications to the Peace Corps have since hit historic highs. By encouraging communities to embrace adaptive change, the corps now helps host countries to deal with such issues as gender inequality, economic instability, and health challenges. As importantly, volunteers, as you have done throughout your career, are doing the important work of making friends in a fractured world.

I hereby declare you recipient of the honorary degree Doctor of Laws, entitled to all the rights, honors, and privileges appertaining thereto.

June 5, 2016