David Miliband, Diplomat and Humanitarian Leader, To Deliver Johns Hopkins SAIS Commencement Address on May 22

David Miliband, renowned diplomat and humanitarian leader, will deliver the commencement address during the 2024 graduation ceremony for the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. on May 22, 2024.

Miliband is president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), where he oversees the organization’s humanitarian relief operations in more than 40 war-affected countries and its refugee resettlement and assistance programs in 28 cities around the United States.
 
Under Miliband’s leadership, the IRC has expanded its ability to rapidly respond to humanitarian crises and meet the needs of an unprecedented number of people uprooted by conflict, war, and disaster. The organization is implementing an ambitious global strategy to bring clear outcomes, strong evidence and systematic research to the humanitarian programs through collaborative partnerships with the public and private sectors.  
 
From 2007 to 2010, Miliband was the 74th Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, representing the U.K. throughout the world and advancing important issues such as human rights. In 2006, as Secretary of State for the Environment, he pioneered the world’s first legally binding emissions reduction requirements. He also served as a member of the U.K. Parliament from 2001 to 2003.
 
Miliband has earned a reputation as an effective and passionate advocate for the world’s uprooted and poor people. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has described him as “one of the ablest, most creative public servants of our time.”
 
Miliband’s parents fled to Britain from continental Europe during World War II and its aftermath. As the son of refugees, he brings a personal commitment to the IRC’s work. His first book, Rescue: Refugees and the Political Crisis of our Time, was published by TED Books in November 2017.
 
Miliband graduated from Oxford University in 1987 with a first-class honors degree in philosophy, politics and economics, and received a master’s degree in political science in 1989 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he attended as a Kennedy Scholar.
 
Miliband will deliver an address at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C to an audience of nearly 2,700 members of the Johns Hopkins SAIS community: graduates, faculty, staff, family, and friends. The school will confer degrees on more than 600 graduates in the Master of Arts in International Relations, Master of Arts in Global Policy, Master of Arts in Global Risk, Master of Arts in Strategy, Cybersecurity, and Intelligence, Master of Arts in Sustainable Energy, Master in International Economics and Finance, Master of International Public Policy, Doctor of International Affairs, and Doctor of Philosophy programs.
 
This year, SAIS Europe’s commencement will take place in Bologna, Italy on May 18. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center’s commencement will be held in Nanjing, China on June 14.

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About Johns Hopkins SAIS

For eight decades, students have come to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to learn from renowned faculty and distinguished policy practitioners, build their professional networks, and gain hands-on work experience.
 
The school was founded in 1943 by Paul H. Nitze and Christian A. Herter, statesmen who sought to prepare the next generation of leaders to meet the complex challenges the U.S. and the world would face following World War II. A distinguished faculty of scholars and policy experts developed an innovative curriculum that emphasized international politics, economics, and foreign languages. That program, combined with skills training and experiential learning, helped prepare students to make a difference in government, civil society, and the private sector. In 1955, SAIS established a campus in Bologna, Italy, and in 1986 the school initiated one of the first Western university programs in the People’s Republic of China in Nanjing.
 
Today, SAIS carries on this tradition, preparing students for the emerging challenges of the 21st century. Johns Hopkins SAIS alumni number more than 20,000 graduates, a network of professionals working across the globe. From private-sector executives to entrepreneurs, leaders of nongovernmental organizations to ambassadors, and international media correspondents to energy consultants, SAIS alumni are defined by their innovative thinking, analytical approach, and policy expertise. They are leaders in their fields, lifelong students committed to the betterment of the world.
 
For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or on Twitter @SAISHopkins

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