World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Catherine Bertini to Speak at Grand View University

October 15, 2025

As part of the Global View series, Grand View University is honored to host the 2025 Laureate Lecture in partnership with The World Food Prize Foundation and with support from the Albert Ravenholt Endowment.

The event will take place Thursday, October 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in Speed Lyceum, and will also be available virtually via Zoom. Webinar link.

This year’s distinguished speaker is Dr. Catherine Bertini, former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme and recipient of the 2003 World Food Prize. Her lecture, titled “To End Hunger: Gender is Not a Dirty Word,” will explore the critical connection between gender equity and the global effort to eradicate hunger.

Dr. Bertini is an accomplished leader in international organization reform, dedicating her career to improving institutions that serve poor and hungry populations worldwide. During her decade-long leadership of the World Food Programme, she transformed the agency into a stronger, more effective organization, a contribution recognized with the World Food Prize.

In the United States, she has shaped national food and nutrition policy by expanding electronic benefit transfers for food stamps, creating food packages for breastfeeding mothers, and developing the first national effort to visualize healthy diets. As a UN Under Secretary General, she championed staff security, equality, and cross-agency humanitarian and nutrition initiatives.

Beyond her UN service, Dr. Bertini co-chaired the launch of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative, established the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education, and continues to advance global food security through leadership roles with the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others.

A Distinguished Fellow and emeritus professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School, Dr. Bertini’s lifelong commitment to global food systems and gender equality continues to inspire change worldwide.