A South African university is set to award talk show queen Oprah Winfrey with an honorary doctorate.
The University of the Free State (UFS) will hand over the accolade next week in a ceremony which is open to the public.
UFS says it wants to recognise and honour Winfrey’s accomplishments as a global media leader – as well as her contribution in the field of education and development.
“It is a great privilege for the UFS to be the first South African university to honour Ms Winfrey in this way and to be able to recognise a global icon of her stature,” said Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS.
Winfrey already holds honorary doctorates from Princeton University as well as Duke University in the United States, among others.
Both the Interim Director of the university’s International Institute for Studies in Race, Reconciliation and Social Justice, John Samuel, and Jansen have worked for and with Winfrey on matters of education at her school in Johannesburg, and in South Africa more broadly, the university added.
“Through her private charity, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, hundreds of grants have been awarded in support of empowering women, children and families, and The Oprah Winfrey Scholars Program supports hundreds of university students, in the United States and elsewhere, who are committed to giving back and making a difference in their communities and country.
“During a December 2000 visit to former president Nelson Mandela, Ms Winfrey pledged to build a school for girls in South Africa. This gift was to become the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which opened in 2007,” the university said in a statement.
Last month marked the series finale of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
Article by East Coast Radio
