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Swanee Hunt, the Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and former U.S. ambassador to Austria, will give the 2009 Community Fellow Talk on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 4 p.m. in the Comley-Lane Theatre on South Campus. The talk is free and open to the public.

Hunt’s life mission is to achieve gender parity, especially as a means to end war and rebuild societies, as well as to alleviate poverty and other human suffering. In 1997, she founded Harvard’s Women and Public Policy Program, a research center concerned with domestic and foreign policy, which she directed for more than a decade.

An expert on domestic policy and foreign affairs, she is president of the Hunt Alternatives Fund, through which she has committed more than $120 million in endowments and grants to projects that provoke social change at local, national and global levels. The Fund is focused on strengthening youth arts organizations, supporting leaders of social movements, bolstering women’s leadership in conflict regions, combating sexual trafficking and increasing philanthropy. Hunt also chairs the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Inclusive Security. She has conducted research, training and consultations for women leaders in 60 countries.

From 1993 to 1997, Hunt served as U.S. ambassador to Austria, where she hosted negotiations and international symposia focused on stabilizing the neighboring Balkan states. Her book, “This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace,” won the 2005 PEN/New England Award for non-fiction and included a foreword by former President Clinton. Her memoir, “Half-Life of a Zealot” was published in October 2006. Hunt has also provided news commentary and analysis on international and domestic television networks, including CNN, MSNBC, PBS and CBS Evening News.

Hunt is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the board of Crisis Group. She holds two master’s degrees, a doctorate in theology and six honorary degrees. She has received numerous awards from groups as varied as the United Methodist Church, United Way, Anti-Defamation League, American Mental Health Association, National Women’s Forum, International Education Association, Boston Chamber of Commerce and International Peace Center. In 2007, Hunt was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Following the talk, Hunt will be honored at the Francis Cabot Lowell Alumni Awards and Honors Fellows Gala at 5:30 p.m. at the UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, where she will be named the 2009 Community Honors Fellow. Tickets to the gala are $75 per person. Proceeds support students in the Honors Program. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit www.uml.edu/advancement/fclhonors or e-mail Jacqueline_Ledoux@uml.edu.