Rihanna Named Harvard’s Humanitarian Of The Year

Rihanna may be high in the stratosphere of superstardom, but that doesn’t mean she’s forgotten where she came from.

The singer/actress has been named Humanitarian of the Year by Harvard University for her philanthropic work, including her support of breast cancer research in her home country of Barbados.

“Rihanna has charitably built a state-of- the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados,” S. Allen Counter, the Harvard Foundation’s director, said in a statement. Counter continued:

“In 2012, she founded the nonprofit the Clara Lionel Foundation Global Scholarship Program (named for her grandparents) for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries, and supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project, which provides children with access to education in over 60 developing countries, giving priority to girls, and those affected by lack of access to education in the world today. ”

The Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award recognizes prominent public-spirited leaders each year in honor of the late Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes, according to Harvard’s release notes. Rihanna will soon be in excellent company, as past award recipients include actor James Earl Jones, U.N. Secretaries General Ban Ki-moon, gender rights advocate Malala Yousafzai, and tennis player and activist Arthur Ashe.

Beyond her humanitarian award, the songstress also recently secured her 30th top 10 hit on the Billboard top 100, sitting just behind Madonna and The Beatles for most top 10 songs.