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Liberian President to Speak at Howard University

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Republic of Liberia

Washington, D.C.(April 7, 2009) – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Republic of Liberia will discuss her new book
“This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life by Africa’s First Woman President” in Howard University’s School of Business auditorium on Thursday, April 16, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

Internationally known as Africa’s “Iron Lady,” President Johnson Sirleaf is a leading promoter of peace, justice and democratic rule. In her efforts to bring justice to her people in Liberia, she spent more than a year in jail at the hands of the military dictatorship of General Samuel Doe and had her life threatened by former President Charles Taylor.

After graduating from the College of West Africa in Monrovia, she went on to earn an bachelor’s degree in accounting from Madison Business College in Madison, WI, and a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

President Johnson Sirleaf directed the Regional Bureau for Africa in the United Nations Development Program for five years, served as Assistant Secretary General of the UN and was the first woman to lead the UN Development Project for Africa.

In November 2005, President Johnson Sirleaf became the first woman to lead an African nation. In 2007, she was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States highest Civil Award, for her personal courage and unwavering commitment to expand freedom and improving the lives of people in Liberia and across Africa.

This event is by invitation only; interested attendees may collect tickets from their respective Dean’s office.