Anne-Marie Slaughter, a leader in public policy and international affairs who in 2012 incited national debate on gender equality, will deliver this year's commencement address on May 18, according to a press release from Director of Public Relations Kim Thurler and Assistant Director Katie Cinnamond Benoit.
Slaughter will also receive an honorary doctorate of laws during the 9 a.m. ceremony on The Green.
Thurler praised Slaughter's accomplishments, saying she will make a very interesting choice for graduates and other attendees.
"Someone like Anne-Marie Slaughter just seemed like a wonderful choice in terms of her record of scholarship, her engagement in the world, the kind of work that she has done in the past in the public sphere, as well as what she's doing now," Thurler said.
According to Thurler, this year's speaker is highly respected for her work in a number of fields. Slaughter is the current president and CEO of the New America Foundation, a public policy institute which works to address issues facing 21st century Americans. She previously served as dean of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, as well as the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School. Between 2009 and 2011, she served as the director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State.
"The work that she's currently doing now at the New America Foundation ... is certainly a model for public policy development and an incubator for innovative ideas," Thurler said. "She was, I believe, the first woman to be director of Policy Planning at the State Department, so she's kind of a pioneer in that regard."
Shortly after leaving her position at the Department of State, Slaughter published an article titled "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" in The Atlantic, which quickly became the magazine's most read article and sparked a nation-wide debate on modern-day inequalities between men and women.
According to Thurler, five individuals will be awarded with honorary degrees at the ceremony. They will include Reverend James Lawson, a leader of the American civil rights movement; Jill Lepore (LA '87), a writer, historian and Harvard College professor; HarukiMurakami, a Japanese novelist; former Chairman of the Board of Trustees James Stern (A '72) and Slaughter.
"As a distinguished scholar, academic leader and advocate for innovation in public policy and national affairs, Anne-Marie Slaughter represents the multifaceted excellence and civic engagement to which Tufts is committed," University President Anthony Monaco is quoted as saying in the press release. "We are anticipating her commencement address with great interest."
