UCLA Chancellor Gene Block will present United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with the UCLA Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the campus. Established in 1979, the medal is awarded to those who have made truly extraordinary and distinguished contributions to their professions and to society.

 

Ban will also deliver the Bernard Brodie Distinguished Lecture on the Conditions of Peace, followed by a question-and-answer session. His talk is titled "Mobilizing the Global Citizenry: The United Nations in a Changing World." The lecture is sponsored by the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations.

 

9–10:15 a.m., Tuesday, March 2

 

Charles E. Young Grand Salon in UCLA's Kerckhoff Hall (map)

 

Ban Ki-moon became the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations in January 2007. He was previously South Korea's minister of foreign affairs and trade.

 

During his career, Ban has served as foreign policy adviser and chief national security adviser to the president of South Korea and as the country's deputy minister for policy planning and director-general of American affairs. He has held foreign service posts in New Delhi, Washington, D.C., and Vienna.

 

In 1992, while a special adviser to the foreign minister, he served as vice chair of the South-North Joint Nuclear Control Commission following the adoption by North and South Korea of the historic Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In 2005, as foreign minister, he played a leading role in bringing about another landmark agreement aimed at promoting peace and stability on the Korean peninsula with the adoption of the Joint Statement on resolving the North Korean nuclear issue.

 

Ban earned his bachelor's degree in international relations from Seoul National University and his master's in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Media should R.S.V.P. as soon as possible to Letisia Marquez, UCLA Media Relations & Public Outreach, 310-206-3986, lmarquez@support.ucla.edu.