Belfast University's Next Chancellor: Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton will be the first woman with the title
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2020 4:30 PM CST
Belfast University's Next Chancellor: Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton delivers Hunter College's commencement address in New York last May.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, FILE)

Hillary Clinton has accepted a five-year posting as chancellor of Queen's University in Belfast. The job involves advising management and presiding over graduation, the BBC reports. Mostly, though, the former secretary of state will act as an ambassador for the Northern Ireland school. Clinton will be the first woman to hold the title. Calling it a "great privilege," Clinton tweeted that she'd developed a strong relationship with Queens and is "proud to be an ambassador for its excellence." The university gave her an honorary degree in 2018 and awards the Hillary Rodham Clinton Award for Peace and Reconciliation each year, per the Washington Post. The full scholarship goes to a female American student interested "in a field related to politics, conflict transformation or human rights."

Clinton has longstanding connections to Northern Ireland, and has visited frequently since her first trip, as first lady, in 1995. President Bill Clinton was the first president to visit Northern Ireland while in office, and Queens has since created the William J. Clinton Leadership Institute. Hillary Clinton has been honored for her work to ease tensions in Northern Ireland, per the Post. While first lady, she famously stopped at Belfast's Lamplighter cafe to meet with Catholic and Protestant women. One of them was Joyce McCartan, a peace activist Clinton later called an inspiration, per the BBC. McCartan died about a month later. In 1997, Clinton returned alone to deliver the first Joyce McCartan Memorial Lecture at Ulster University. (More Hillary Clinton stories.)

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