Yuan
Ming Joins Board of United Nations Foundation
WASHINGTON,
DC (June 18, 2007) — The United Nations
Foundation announced today the appointment
of Yuan Ming,
Director of the Institute of International
Relations at Beijing University, to the Foundation’s
Board of Directors.
“Professor Yuan Ming’s dedication
to the study of international affairs and
her efforts to spread knowledge and understanding
around the globe are inspiring and will be
a great asset to the Board,” said Ted
Turner, Chairman of the United Nation’s
Foundation Board of Directors.
“The tough global challenges facing
policymakers today call for innovative global
solutions. The United Nations Foundation is
at the forefront of building those solutions,
and I am very pleased to join that important
effort,” said Yuan Ming.
“Yuan Ming is a distinguished academic
with diverse international experience. Her
demonstrated commitment to cross-cultural
understanding will enhance the Foundation’s
mission of forging alliances in the service
of creating a more peaceful, prosperous, and
just world,” said Timothy E. Wirth,
President of the United Nations Foundation.
In addition to her work as director of the
Institute of International Relations and the
American Studies Center at Beijing University,
Yuan Ming is vice dean of the University’s
School of International Studies. Her interests
and expertise in international affairs also
led her to become a member of the Chinese
People’s Political Consultative Party
(CPPCC)—a political advisory body in
the People's Republic of China—and the
CPPCC’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Professor Yuan Ming studied Western language
and literature at Peking University, and completed
graduate work in the Law Department of Peking
University. China’s Open Door policy
later enabled her to accept various academic
posts in the United States and England, including
those at U.C. Berkeley, St. Antony’s
College at Oxford University, the Carter Center,
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,
and the Brookings Institution. Yuan Ming frequently
speaks at international gatherings such as
the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Trilateral
Commission, and the Club of Rome. She has
served as trustee of the Asia Society, and
she is currently a member of the Council on
Foreign Relation’s International Advisory
Board.
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with
entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s
historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes
and activities. The UN Foundation builds and
implements public-private partnerships to
address the world’s most pressing problems,
and also works to broaden support for the
UN through advocacy and public outreach.
The UN Foundation is a public charity. Its
partnerships and campaigns have global reach,
and cut across diverse issue areas, including:
protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainable
development; providing insecticide-treated
bed nets to prevent the spread of malaria
in Africa; and increasing access to technology
for international humanitarian relief and
public health workers.
The members of the foundation’s Board
of Directors represent 10 nationalities and
an equal number of men and women. Members
are: Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of
Jordan; Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General
Emeritus, World Health Organization; Ruth
Cardoso, Chair, Comunidade Solidaria; Graça
Machel, Chair, Foundation for Community Development;
N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor
of Infosys Technologies Limited; Hisashi Owada,
Judge, International Court of Justice; Emma
Rothschild, Director of the Centre for History
and Economics - King's College, University
of Cambridge; Nafis Sadik, Special Advisor
to the UN Secretary-General; Ted Turner (Chairman),
Chairman, Turner Enterprises; Timothy E. Wirth,
President, United Nations Foundation and Better
World Fund; Andrew Young, Chairman, Good Works
International; Yuan Ming, Director of the
Institute of International Relations at Beijing
University; and Muhammad Yunus, Founder, Grameen
Bank of Bangladesh.
# # #
About
the United Nations Foundation
The UN Foundation was created in 1998 with
entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner’s
historic $1 billion gift to support UN causes
and activities. The UN Foundation builds and
implements public-private partnerships to
address the world’s most pressing problems
and also works to broaden support for the
UN through advocacy and public outreach. The
UN Foundation is a public charity. For a complete
listing of UN Foundation grants and programs
or to learn more about the United Nations
Foundation, visit www.unfoundation.org.
Press
contact:
Katherine Miller
Communications Director
United Nations Foundation
202.887.9040 kmiller@unfoundation.org
