10 a.m., March 25, 2010----Catherine Bertini, who has played a major role in the fight against world hunger, will speak at the University of Delaware's 161st Commencement ceremony, scheduled at 9 a.m., Saturday, May 29, in Delaware Stadium on the Newark campus.

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The outdoor ceremony, held rain or shine, is open to the public.

Bertini, who was the driving force behind reform of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), serving as its chief executive for 10 years, currently is a professor of public administration at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs,

“Prof. Bertini is an excellent choice to address the Class of 2010,” UD President Patrick T. Harker said, in making the announcement. “Today's college students have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to public service, to making the world a better place. Prof. Bertini will provide our newest graduates with the perspective of one who, through her hard work and dedication, has had a very real impact on the world and millions of people in it.”

A leader in public sector management, international organizations, humanitarian relief, agricultural development and nutrition policy, Bertini has had a career spanning public service from the international to the local level.

She has served as a senior fellow in agricultural development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she advised on the development of the foundation's new agriculture portfolio that strives to improve the well being of poor farmers in Africa and South Asia.

When Ms. Bertini was chief executive of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), its institutional changes were cited by the United States government and the 36-government board of WFP as models of U.N. reform in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and income.

She was named the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate for her leadership at WFP, which is credited with assisting hundreds of millions of victims of wars and natural disasters throughout the world. In particular, Ms. Bertini was widely praised for her efforts to end famine in North Korea, avert starvation in Afghanistan, ensure food was delivered effectively during crises in Bosnia and Kosovo, quickly reaching Hurricane Mitch flood victims in Central America and for averting mass starvation in the Horn of Africa.

After her WFP assignment, she was appointed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to be under secretary general for management, responsible for the U.N.'s human, financial, physical resources and security of staff worldwide. For four years, Ms. Bertini chaired the U.N. System Standing Committee on Nutrition.

She continues to organize assistance to increase the numbers of girls in school in developing countries.

Her other posts have included assistant secretary for food and consumer services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, acting assistant secretary for family support in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

She currently co-chairs the Chicago Council of Global Affairs Task Force on Agricultural Development, which seeks to have support for poor farmers in developing countries as a priority in U.S. government foreign policy.

In the summer of 2005, Ms. Bertini joined the faculty of the Maxwell School. Earlier, she was policy maker in residence at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a fellow at the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Her honors include Italy's Order of Merit, being named one of the world's most powerful women by The Times of London and honorary degrees from 10 universities in four countries.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the International Academy of Food Science and Technology.

Ms. Bertini earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Albany.

Commencement information

More details about the University's 161st Commencement are available on a special University Web site.