Virgie and I feel strongly about this fellowship because graduate students made my program. - Stanley Peloquin (’51 MS ALS, ’52 PhD L&S), who with wife Vergie created the Peloquin Graduate Training and Research Fund |
|  | Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa (‘46 BA L&S) had a grand goal in mind when she established a fund to bring renowned women from across the globe to lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“My primary interest is fostering peace around the world,” said Marguerite, who established the J. Jobe Soffa and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished International Visitor Fund. Her late husband, J. Jobe, was a 1947 graduate of the School of Business.
“One of the ways we can bring about peace is for people of different cultures and countries to come together,” she said. “If we know each other, we can perhaps come to understand and appreciate one other.”
Marguerite also is concerned with women’s and children’s rights. “Women and children are oppressed all over the world,” she said. “If we can shine a light on issues that matter to them, we can take steps to make their lives better.”
In the five years of the lecture series so far, the speakers have been well-known leaders in the struggle for human rights and understanding.
“They’ve all given very inspiring lectures, and they’ve all been wonderful to meet and speak with,” Marguerite said. “It has been a rewarding experience for me and I would hope for the campus.” |
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| Speakers in the lecture series supported by the J. Jobe and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Distinguished International Visitor Fund | |
- 2006- Asha Haga Elmi Amin, member of Somalia’s transitional parliament, chairperson of the Sixth Clan, founder of Save Somali Women and Children
- 2005- Ruth Ojiambo Ochieng, director of Isis-Women’s International Cross Country Exchange, Uganda
- 2004- Veena Das, Krieger Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University
- 2003- Mary Burton, commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, former president of the anti-apartheid organization Blask Sash
- 2001- Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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| | | Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa, left, and Asha Hagi Elmi Amin visit during the latter's trip to lecture on campus in 2006. |
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