2019 Graduation Speaker: Michelle Bachelet

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Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights and former president of Chile, will be the featured speaker at SIPA’s graduation ceremony on May 19, 2019.

Bachelet assumed her current office on September 1, 2018. As high commissioner, she serves as the principal human-rights official of the United Nations and spearheads the UN’s human rights efforts around the world.

Bachelet was twice elected president of Chile, serving from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018. Before becoming the country’s first female president, she had been the first woman to serve Chile — or any Latin American nation— as defense minister, from 2000 to 2002. Bachelet also served as Chile’s health minister from 2002 to 2004.

Bachelet has also served in leadership roles at multiple international organizations — as the first director of UN Women, as chair of the Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Heath, and as chair of the ILO’s Social Protection Floor Advisory Group, among others.

In making the announcement, Dean Merit E. Janow thanked students, including SIPASA leadership, and faculty for their input on the selection.

“Ms. Bachelet has undertaken many significant roles during her remarkable career,” Janow said. “We very much look forward to welcoming her to campus this May.”