2005 Honorary Degree Recipient - Joan Brown Campbell

The Reverend Joan Brown Campbell has led efforts for peace, social justice, human rights and women’s right for over four decades. In every job she held, she was the first woman to carry that responsibility. She was the first woman to be executive director of the U.S. office of the World Council of Churches; the first ordained woman to be general secretary of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA ; and today, she is the first woman director of religion at the historic Chautauqua Institution. A participant some of the great historic events of the last century, she led a delegation to present the Catholic edition of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible to Pope John Paul II. She worked with Martin Luther King and brought him to her own congregation . She has led peace missions to the Middle East . She continues her commitment to peace as chair of the Global Women’s Peace Initiative.