Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service

On May 17th, Her Highness Shiekha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned of Qatar delivered the commencement speech for the SFS class of '08. Touching on themes of unity, peacemaking, and cross-cultural understanding, Her Highness spoke broadly of the triumphs of the class of '08 and the challenges they will face in the future, reminding those in attendance that the world must depend on its young people "to do a better job than we have done… to build a world envisioned centuries ago by both Muslim philosophers and the Founding Fathers alike—a world that values the contributions of all, regardless of race, ethnicity, and religion."

Sheikha Mozah chairs the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, a non-profit organization founded in 1995 by the Emir of Qatar. She also serves as president of the Supreme Council of Family Affairs—a government institution founded in 1998 with the aim of strengthening the role of family in society—as well as UNESCO’s Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education. In November 2002, Sheikha Mozah was appointed vice-chair of the Supreme Education Council, a government institution that oversees Qatar's reform efforts in the K-12 education system. Her Highness graduated from the University of Qatar in 1986 with a degree in sociology.

Her Highness' leadership in the field of international education has led to many notable new initiatives, foremost among them Education City, located in Qatar's capital, Doha. Inaugurated in the fall of 2003, the Qatar Foundation's Education City is a prototypical university of the future, bringing campuses of international universities on site in Qatar to share research and community-based ventures. Currently, Education City provides innovative educational and research opportunities through partnerships with many renowned educational institutions, including Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.