Human Rights Activist Dr. Sima Samar to Speak at the Spring 2024 Kurt Wimer International Lecture Series at ESU

Dr. Sima Samar

Posted by: Elizabeth Richardson on March 19, 2024, No Comments

The department of political science and economics at East Stroudsburg University is proud to announce that Dr. Sima Samar is the spring 2024 Kurt Wimer International Lecture Series speaker. Her lecture will be on Tuesday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Niedbala Auditorium located inside the Warren E. ’55 & Sandra Hoeffner Science and Technology Center.

Dr. Sima Samar is a globally renowned human rights activist with over 40 years of work dedicated to women’s rights, human rights, public service, health, education and humanitarianism. She is an expert in conflict resolution and development within conflict, post-conflict and fragile states with extensive insight and experience in Afghanistan, South Asia, and Sudan. Dr. Samar is a regional and global leader, the first-ever Afghan woman to be appointed as Vice President of Afghanistan, first-ever Afghan Minister of Women’s Affairs, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan, seventeen-year Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) and member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation and member of the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel for Internal Displacements (IDPs). She is a firm advocate for women’s rights and has dedicated her career to representing the rights of minorities, marginalized and isolated groups and the underprivileged. She is currently a Harvard University Visiting Scholar-At-Risk at the Carr Center for Human Rights and is the author of the autobiography Outspoken: My Fight for Freedom and Human Rights in Afghanistan.

In addition to the lecture, Dr. Samar will host a book signing in the lobby of the Science and Technology Center from 4-4:45 p.m. Books can be purchased at the ESU Bookstore.

The Kurt Wimer International Lecture Series is named in honor of the former chair of ESU’s social science department, which eventually was divided into the political science, history and sociology departments. The series consists of semi-annual lectures by invited practitioners and experts on topics related to foreign and international affairs.

For more information about the Kurt Wimer International Lecture Series or special accommodations, please contact Dr. Eliasson at (570) 422-3250 or jeliasson@esu.edu