On the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, University President Teresa Sullivan announced a new award named in honor of Edward Stettinius, former University student and the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Sullivan announced the award in a speech given to students and parents during Family Weekend Oct. 24.
“The award will recognize a person whose life and work reflect the principles of America’s first secretary of state and founder of the University, Thomas Jefferson, as well as Edward Stettinius, who followed in Jefferson’s footsteps,” Sullivan said.
Stettinius attended the University from 1919 to 1924. As a student, he was involved with the Honor Committee and student government. He left the University without a degree and entered the private sector, eventually becoming the chairman of the Board of Directors for the United States Steel Corporation.
Stettinius entered public service when he joined the War Resources Board in 1939, and was named Undersecretary of State in 1943. In 1944, he replaced Cordell Hull as Secretary of State and helped organize the Dumbarton Oaks Convention, where international delegates planned an organization that would replace the failed League of Nations.
Stettinius was named the first U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, but grew increasingly frustrated with the Truman administration’s reluctance to use the United Nations to negotiate international tensions, especially those between the Soviet Union and United States. He left his post in 1946, and became rector at the University until his death in 1949.
University Deputy Spokesperson Matthew Charles said Stettinius influenced the University both during his time as a student and as rector.
“As Rector, he championed academic freedom so that faculty could be a radiating center of practical and intellectual service to the world,” Charles said in an email statement.
David Leblang, professor of governance at the Miller Center, said the University is proud of the connection it has to the United Nations through Stettinius.
“There is an endowment in his name, and a Stettinius Professor in the History and Politics departments,” Leblang said. “It’s a title with a significant amount of prestige, sitting in a chair named for someone present at the creation of the United Nations.”
The University consulted the Department of Politics during the process of creating the award, Leblang said. A committee made up of faculty from the vice provost's office and the departments of politics and history will announce the first honoree in the spring.
“It’s designed to celebrate and recognize the University’s commitment to training students for international public service,” Leblang said.
The committee will give the award to a policy maker “who has committed themselves to working on matters of international cooperation,” Leblang said. “No one we’re discussing has a connection to the University.”
Read this article translated into Chinese here.
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