Media Release

For Immediate Release

October 17, 2006

2006 Nobel Prize Winner to Speak at SMU: Muhammad Yunus expected to draw big audience

Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus is looking forward to speaking at Saint Mary's University on November 14. The "Banker of the Poor" will conduct his talk from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM in the MacNally Theatre Auditorium.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, who is a recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, will conduct a lecture at Saint Mary’s University.

The world-acclaimed “Banker of the Poor” will speak from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM in the McNally Theatre Auditorium at Saint Mary’s on Tuesday, November 14.

This event is free and is open to the public. University officials highly suggest that those wishing to attend arrive early as seating will be limited.

Yunus established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves. Today, the Grameen Bank is at the forefront of a burgeoning world movement toward eradicating poverty through micro-lending. Replicas of the Grameen Bank model operate in more than 100 countries worldwide.

After studying at Dhaka University in Bangladesh, Yunus was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University, from which he received his Ph.D. in economics in 1969. The following year, he became an assistant professor of economics at Middle Tennessee State University. Returning to Bangladesh, Yunus headed the economics department at Chittagong University.

From 1993 to 1995, Yunus was a member of the International Advisory Group for the Fourth World Conference on Women, a post to which he was appointed by the UN secretary general. He has served on the Global Commission of Women’s Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance.

Yunus is the recipient of numerous international awards for his ideas and endeavors, including the Mohamed Shabdeen Award for Science (1993),Sri Lanka; Humanitarian Award (1993), CARE, USA; World Food Prize (1994), World Food Prize Foundation, USA; Independence Day Award (1987), Bangladesh’s highest award; King Hussein Humanitarian Leadership Award (2000), King Hussien Foundation, Jordan; Volvo Environment Prize (2003), Volvo Environment Prize Foundation, Sweden; Nikkei Asia Prize for Regional Growth (2004), Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan; Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award (2006), Roosevelt Institute of The Netherlands; and the Seoul Peace Prize (2006), Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, Seoul, Korea.

Saint Mary's University is known for its community outreach projects, both in Canada and around the world. Saint Mary's, founded in 1802, is home to one of Canada's leading business schools, a Science Faculty widely known for its cutting-edge research, a comprehensive and innovative Arts Faculty and a vibrant Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research.

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For More Information:

Paul Fitzgerald
Public Affairs Officer
Saint Mary's University, Public Affairs
(902) 420.5514
E-mail: paul.fitzgerald@smu.ca
www.smu.ca