The career of microfinance pioneer and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who will speak at commencement Sunday, demonstrates the potential to bridge the gap between academia’s ivory tower and the real world.
In 1976, Yunus—then a professor at the University of Chittagong in Bangladesh—began a project aimed at providing the rural poor with banking services. By 1983, the project had evolved into Grameen Bank, which was independent and providing the poor with access to credit to allow for the creation of businesses and break the cycle of poverty.
The bank does not require collateral for loans and it does not take borrowers who cannot repay loans to court. It provides significant assistance to women seeking to escape poverty, with 97 percent of its 8.07 million borrowers being women, according to the bank’s website.
“What Muhammad has done over his lifetime is embody very much the ideas of knowledge and service to society, which drive a lot of activity at Duke,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “He took a graduate education, a Ph.D. in economics, and turned it into a force for incredible good in a part of the world that had not experienced that kind of entrepreneurship.”
In addition to winning the Nobel Peace Price jointly with the Grameen Bank in 2006 “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below,” Yunus is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Barack Obama awarded Yunus the United States’ highest civilian honor Aug. 12, 2009.
Although Yunus is not a Duke alumnus, he is connected to the University in a number of ways, Schoenfeld said. In years past he has been involved with the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at the Fuqua School of Business.
Schoenfeld said Fuqua was also a co-sponsor of Yunus’ February 2009 visit to nearby North Carolina Central University. Yunus was in the area to consider establishing a branch of his bank in the Triangle and spoke at both NCCU and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In 2008, Grameen launched several branches in the United States and has now given loans to 2,500 people, with a 99 percent repayment rate, said Katherine Rosenberg, director of education and evaluation for Grameen America.
The selection and invitation of commencement speakers is a responsibility that ultimately lies with President Richard Brodhead, although this year Brodhead called for a student advisory committee to help suggest candidates. The committee was composed of students from both the University’s undergraduate and graduate schools and was led by Schoenfeld and Vice President and University Secretary Richard Riddell.
Ultimately, the group suggested about 20 names to Brodhead, who decided to extend an invitation to Yunus. Riddell said the group looked for speakers with the ability to provide a message particularly inspiring for the occasion and connect with the audience with excellent public speaking skills.
“I like the fact that he has gone out and figured out how to solve a financial issue with a population that many people would have never thought about,” Riddell said. “It resonates with Duke University throughout its schools, how do you take what we know and make a difference in the world?”
Yunus was the commencement speaker for the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 2009 and for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2008.
The committee initially considered more than 100 potential commencement speaker, said Taren Greenidge, a third year student in the School of Law who served on the committee and will graduate this weekend. Greenidge added that Yunus’s extensive background in economics and finance is especially relevant given the recent economic downturn, as is his commitment to service.
“Because Duke is a school so esteemed for academics and also community involvement and giving back, I think he fits the mold of what [the University] is all about,” Greenidge said.
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