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In Memoriam: S. Allen Counter 1944-2017

July 19, 2017

The world has lost one of its greatest humanists, but the recent death of Dr. S. Allen Counter will most adversely affect African Americans. There is no one else to explore the globe so bravely, in search of the history of the African people.

As founder and director since 1981 of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, Counter created an institution at Harvard University that obviated impending student ethnic balkanization in favor of respectful appreciation for ethnic and racial diversity. Fully aware that outstanding celebrities in music, theater,

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S. Allen Counter: A Great Man, A Lasting Legacy

July 14, 2017

By NWORAH B. AYOGU

Most people know Dr. S. Allen Counter for the events he has overseen and the individuals he has brought to campus: world leaders, nobel laureates, and Grammy winning singers. He honored a yearly Humanitarian of the Year, put on a science conference for minority grade schools students, and started the portraiture project to commission portraits of diverse individuals to better reflect Harvard’s

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S. Allen Counter, who found descendants of U.S. explorers in Greenland, dies at 73

July 12, 2017

By Matt Schudel July 12 at 7:09 PM 

S. Allen Counter, a Harvard scientist best known for championing the achievements of African American explorer Matthew Henson and for traveling to Greenland, where he found descendants of Henson and fellow polar explorer Robert E. Peary, died July 12. He was 73.

Rakesh Khurana, dean of Harvard College, announced the death but provided no further details.

Dr. Counter, a neurobiologist,

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Photo by Brian Bowen Smith Viola Davis, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Rose Maxson in the film "Fences," has been named Artist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation. She will be honored March 4.

Actress Viola Davis named Harvard Artist of the Year

February 23, 2017

by The Harvard Gazette (Photo by Brian Bowen Smith; Viola Davis, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of Rose Maxson in the film "Fences," has been named Artist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation. She will be honored March 4.)

 

Viola Davis, the popular actress, producer, director, activist, businesswoman, and philanthropist, has been named the 2017 Artist of the Year. She will be

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Rihanna named Harvard Humanitarian of the Year (credit Roc Nation)

Rihanna named Humanitarian of Year

February 22, 2017

by The Harvard Gazette

The popular singer Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year, and will come to campus to accept the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony next Tuesday (Feb. 28).

“Rihanna has charitably built a state-of- the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados,” said S. Allen Counter, the Harvard Foundation’s director.

“In 2012, she founded the nonprofit the Clara Lionel Foundation Global

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Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, honored as the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year

Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, honored as the 2016 Humanitarian of the Year

September 17, 2016

On Saturday night a slight woman of enormous international stature let a Harvard audience in on a perk of her position: When she is asked to give a speech, the leader of Myanmar said, her staff provides her with talking points. Even better, for her lecture as the Harvard Foundation Humanitarian of the Year, Harvard provided her with a topic.

“[Foundation director 

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Portrait of First African American to Graduate from Harvard College, Unveiled.

Portrait of First African American to Graduate from Harvard College, Unveiled.

April 28, 2016

The walls of Annenberg Hall are lined with Harvard luminaries: University alumni, professors, and benefactors depicted in paintings and sculptures. On Thursday, a new portrait joined the array, that of Richard Theodore Greener, Class of 1870, the first African-American to graduate from Harvard College.

Greener was an outstanding Harvard undergraduate who won the prestigious Bowden Prize for elocution in his sophomore and senior years, and was a Class Day speaker at Commencement. A Stoughton Hall resident, he was well respected and went on

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Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi honored as the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi honored as the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year

October 16, 2015

The Humanitarian Award, which honors the late Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church from 1974 to 2011, was presented at the Memorial Church on Friday, October 16, 2015. The recipient was the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Kailash Satyarthi in honor of his excellent contributions to humanitarianism, intercultural relations and international peace