Good afternoon.  At this time, I ask Paula Singer, chair of the Board, and the Right Honorable Lord Mark Malloch-Brown to join me at the podium.

As the array of flags demonstrates so beautifully, Walden University’s global community continues to grow.  And as we become more global, we must continually recommit ourselves to our mission.

For almost 40 years, we have provided a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to make a difference in their organizations, in their communities and in society by being scholar-practitioners.

At Walden, we challenge our students to integrate scholarly research with their experience as professionals in their fields, because we believe knowledge ought to be judged worthy to the degree that it can be applied to solve critical societal challenges, all around the world.

This mission, this idea, lies at the very core of what we are at Walden.  The idea of applying research and discoveries so as to solve global challenges.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown has dedicated his career to solving the most vexing of global challenges.  Almost 30 years ago, Mark was in Southeast Asia helping hundreds of thousands of Cambodian refugees escape the “killing fields” of the Khmer Rouge when he was in charge of field operations for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.  Later, Mark advised Corazon Aquino when she successfully ran against Ferdinand Marcos for president of the Philippines.

Over many years at the World Bank, as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, and as Deputy Secretary-General of the U.N., Mark devoted himself to advancing the cause of economic progress in the developing world.  In 2005, he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine.  And today, as Britain’s Foreign Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations, Mark is one of the world’s leading voices calling for democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe – and an end to the government-led violence against civilians there.

I have known Mark for over 15 years.  He is a dedicated international civil servant, a visionary, and a passionate leader.  He is the kind of moral statesman that is in short supply today, but that the world needs.

Director Singer, on behalf of Walden University, I am enormously proud to nominate Lord Mark Malloch-Brown for the honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.

In honor of your professional achievements and moral leadership on issues of great importance around the world, Walden University proudly confers upon you the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, with all of its rights and privileges.  Congratulations.