WASHINGTON — Nomfundo Walaza, chief
executive officer of the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre in Cape Town, South
Africa, will receive the AAUW/NASPA Women of Distinction Award during
the 2010 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. This
year's ceremony, to be held at the University of Maryland, College Park,
on Thursday, June 3, marks the 25th anniversary of the conference.
The
2010 Women of Distinction Awards pay tribute to leaders who have made
extraordinary contributions in their professions or in their
communities. In addition to Walaza, the following individuals will be
honored:
- Dorothy Height (in
memoriam),chair and president emerita,National Council of Negro
Women
- Patti Solis Doyle, partner, Utrecht
& Phillips, a Washington, D.C., law firm,and the first Hispanic
woman to run a major U.S. presidential campaign
- Christina
Lagdameo, deputy director of the White House Initiative on
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
- Marie Tillman,
founder and chair of the Pat Tillman Foundation
Walaza
and the other 2010 Women of Distinction honorees join a prestigious
group of more than 100 women who have been celebrated in conjunction
with the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders since the
inception of the conference in 1985.
Focused on
Fostering Peace
A clinical psychologist who has worked in
the human rights field for the last two decades, Walaza has been CEO at
the Desmond Tutu Peace Centre since 2007. Co-founded by Archbishop
Desmond and Leah Tutu in 1998, the Tutu Centre plays a unique role in
building and leveraging the legacy of Archbishop Tutu to foster peace in
the world. Walaza has also served as a commissioner in the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission and as the executive director of the Trauma
Centre for survivors of violence and torture, both in South Africa,
where she has focused on empowering and healing victims of torture,
trauma, and violence, many of whom suffered severely at the hands of the
apartheid government.
Passionate about women's issues and
restoring the dignity of those who have suffered as a result of human
rights violations and abuses, Walaza served on the subcommittee of the
NICRO Women's Support Centre from 1999 to 2001 and was a consultant
editor for Femina magazine from 1996 to 2001. In conjunction
with a lobby of progressive women's organizations in Cape Town, South
Africa, Walaza played a leading role in shaping a gendered response to
the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Walaza has addressed
audiences and run workshops on human rights issues both in South Africa
and internationally. She participated on the BBC program Facing the
Truth with Archbishop Tutu and has taken part in dialogues and
workshops aimed at teaching nonviolent ways of responding to conflict
and developing pathways to mutual acknowledgment in the Middle East. In
2001 and 2002, she was a visiting research scholar at the Human Rights
Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
Walaza's zeal
as an activist for human rights extends far beyond the South African
borders, as she is also actively involved in Psychologists Without
Borders. She is a board member of the Open Society Foundation and the
Social Change Assistance Trust and co-chair of the Electoral Commission
Code of Conduct (ECCOC) and Women Demanding Dignity.
2010
NCCWSL Events and Sponsors
As part of this year's 25th
anniversary celebration of the National Conference for College Women
Student Leaders and its awards program, a special reception will be held
for this year's honorees. Several past honorees will attend this
celebration, including Amy Richards, Soapbox: Speakers Who Speak Out,
Inc.; Brigadier General Wilma L. Vaught, USAF, and president, Women in
Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc.; and Dorothy
Gilliam, founder and director of the Prime Movers Media Program at the
School of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University.
The Ruth Z. Sweetser Honorary Fund and Prudential are platinum sponsors
of the 2010 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders.
Other conference sponsors include the University of Maryland, College
Park, and The Princeton Review.
Since 1985, the National
Conference for College Women Student Leaders has provided a platform to
help thousands of college and university women to develop leadership
skills, network with other student leaders, and interact with women who
hold leadership positions. The conference is presented each June by AAUW
and NASPA.