News Releases

Human Rights Champion and Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, Will Speak at USM’s Genocide & Human Rights Event

April 13, 2007

Contact: Abraham Peck
Director, University of Southern Maine Academic Council for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Studies
USM Adjunct Professor of History
USM Sampson Center Judaica Scholar-in-Residence
Tel: 207-780-5331

Portland, ME – April 13, 2007 --- Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nation’s Former High Commissioner for Human Rights will be the keynote speaker of the 2007 Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture on Genocide and Human Rights on Monday, April 23, 2007, 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Community Education Center in Portland. Robinson will speak on Globalization Ethics and Human Rights. The lecture is free and open to the public. 

The event is sponsored by The Hudson Foundation in memory of Douglas M. Schair with The Academic Council for Post-Holocaust Christian, Jewish, and Islamic Studies at the University of Southern Maine. For further information and access inquiries, contact Abraham Peck at 207-780-5331. The program will include ASL interpreters.  Convenient parking is available at the USM garage.

About Mary Robinson
As the first woman president of Ireland (1990-1997), Mary Robinson championed the rights of the poor and of women.  In 2005, Time magazine included her amongst the World’s 100 Most Influential People. Time’s J. McAllister described her as one who “has a judge’s rectitude, a campaigner’s zeal, the warmth of an old friend – and an acute sense of how to focus the global spotlight on a cause.”  In 2005 Mary Robinson was also amongst Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year – “the heroes who inspired you most.”

Today, as head of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, Robinson campaigns for equitable trade with developing countries and working to protect the rights of migrants, AIDS victims, and others who do not have the economic means or political power to defend themselves. Robinson holds countless positions including the Honorary President of Oxfam, member of the UN Global Commission on International Migration, Vice President of Club of Madrid – an independent organization of current and former heads of state dedicated to strengthening democracy around the world, and chairs Women in Leadership’s Council of Women World Leaders.

She served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002.  Before her election as President of Ireland, Robinson served as a Senator for 20 years.  In 1969 she became Reid Professor of Constitutional Law at Trinity College of Dublin and now serves as Chancellor of Dublin University.  Educated at Trinity College and called to the bar in 1967, Robinson also holds law degrees from the King’s Inns of Dublin and Harvard University. 

About Douglas M. Schair Memorial Lecture on Genocide & Human Rights
Established in 2006 in memory of Douglas M. Schair — businessman and philanthropist devoted to raising public awareness of issues dealing with genocide — the Memorial Lecture on Genocide & Human Rights focuses on issues of genocide and human rights in our time.

The event’s co-sponsors include: TD Banknorth, Portland Press Herald, Dunfey Group, Maine Humanities Council, Marcus, Clegg and Mistretta, PA, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Irish American Club of Maine, the Maine Irish Heritage Center and The Armenian Cultural Association.

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