Nobel laureate to speak at Northeastern
Leymah Gbowee, a winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, is scheduled to speak during the Millennium Campus Conference (MCC) at Northeastern in September, event organizers announced this week. Gbowee, a peace activist from Liberia, founded or co-founded each of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, Women Peace and Security Network Africa and Women in Peacebuilding Network/Africa organizations, according to MCC organizers. In 2003, she led a group of Christian and Muslim women to help end Liberia’s civil war, MCC organizers said. The conference is a student event centered around the United Nations Millenium Development Goals, which include ending poverty and hunger, promoting universal education and combating HIV/AIDS by 2015. It is scheduled for Sept. 14-15.
Thompson takes position at URI
Naomi Thompson, associate director of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity and Title IX coordinator at Northeastern, has accepted a job at the University of Rhode Island. According to the Providence Journal, she will begin work as the head of URI’s Office of Community, Equity and Diversity on Aug. 27. In a statement, URI said Thompson had worked at Northeastern for 13 years and will report directly to the school’s president in her new post. Northeastern spokeswoman Renata Nyul said the university will search for a replacement for Thompson. For now, she said, Northeastern will appoint an interim director before September.
Northeastern selects location for Seattle satellite campus
Northeastern announced the physical location for its graduate campus in Seattle this week. The campus will share a headquarters building with the Institute for Systems Biology, a Washington-based scientific research organization. The university said in a statement that the new campus will open in early 2013 and will offer more than a dozen degree programs. The building will contain meeting space and classrooms equipped with technology such as video conferencing equipment, according to Northeastern. The university said J.P. Canlis, a Seattle-based glass artist, will create an art installation in the space.
-Zack Sampson, News Staff
