The Kennedy Political Union and AU Communications announced their selection of former First Lady Laura Bush to receive the 2015 WONK of the Year award on Feb. 23.
Bush will receive the award and speak at Bender Arena on April 8 at 8:15 pm. She is the third recipient of the WONK of the Year award, following former President Bill Clinton and CNN journalist Anderson Cooper who were honored in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
This will be the first time that KPU has ever hosted a current or former first lady.
KPU will honor Bush based on her commitment to education, literacy and international human rights, according to KPU Director Tyler Bowders.
Bush is currently chair of the Women’s Initiative at the Bush Institute in Dallas. This position places her in charge of the Afghan Women’s Project, the First Ladies Initiative and the Women’s Initiative Fellowship, which work to empower women and female leaders in the developing world.
She also co-founded the National Book Festival held each year in Washington D.C.
Students took to Twitter and Yik Yak to express their pleasure or unhappiness over the decision, while others used the social media platform to express their ambivalence.
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Bowders said that Bush’s active involvement in the issues she is passionate ties her to the members of the AU community that are also dedicated for advocating for positive change, according to an AU announcement.
“Like Clinton and Cooper, Mrs. Bush has been an eyewitness to major historical events in recent American history and has used her influence to enact both domestic and global change,” Bowders said in the announcement.
