Mr. Raymond Joseph, Ambassador of Haiti to the United States to speak
His Excellency Mr. Raymond Joseph
Ambassador of Haiti to the United States
To Speak at Saint Louis University During Atlas Week
March 23, 2010, 7:00 p.m., Wool Grand Ballroom, Busch Student Center
Saint Louis University is pleased to announce that His Excellency Mr. Raymond Joseph, Ambassador of Haiti to the United States, will deliver a Distinguished Guest Lecture, “Live for Haiti” during its Annual Atlas Week Program. The Tenth Annual Sam and Marilyn Fox Atlas Week Program will be held the week of March 20-27 at Saint Louis University. The theme for the 2010 Atlas Program is Global and Local Justice: The United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The Ambassador will speak on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in Wool Ballroom, Busch Student Center. This event is free and open to the public.
Since the massive earthquake struck Haiti, the Ambassador and his wife, Mrs. Poisson-Joseph, have worked tirelessly coordinating volunteers and recovery and humanitarian relief efforts.
Mr. Joseph will discuss the current situation in Haiti, plans for the future, and how we might help.
Ambassador Raymond Alcide Joseph has served as Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States since 2004. Prior to his current post, he spent the majority of his career as a journalist. When he was 19 years old, he established the first print shop and founded the first monthly Christian newspaper, Reyon Limyè (Rays of Light), in Cayes, Haiti.
In the 1960’s, he worked as a radio personality and founded Radio Vonvon, the first New York radio broadcast against the Duvalier dictatorship. “Radio Vonvon” or “Radio Bug” was nicknamed the “Six O’clock Mass” because it hit the waves at 6:00 a.m. and was the broadcast not to miss.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, he was at the Wall Street Journal in New York as a financial writer and co-founded, with his brother Leo Joseph, the Haiti-Observateur, the first crusading commercial Haitian weekly. The Observateur remains the premier organ abroad of the Haitian community.
In 1990 Mr. Joseph was called to be Haiti’s Chargé d’Affaires in Washington and his country’s representative at the Organization of American States. After helping with the first democratic elections in December 1990, he returned to the Haiti Observateur where he remained until he was called back to Washington in March 2004, where he is currently the Ambassador.
Raymond Joseph is a graduate pastor from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, a B. A. holder in Anthropology from Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. He also has a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology/Linguistics from the University of Chicago.
About Atlas:
The Atlas Program is designed to recognize the international dimension of Saint Louis University’s academic programs and to celebrate SLU’s role in international education and service in light of our Jesuit tradition. One of the main goals of the Atlas Program is to increase awareness of the global issues that confront us today in an effort not only to promote discussion, but also to inspire and inform action. It focuses on what we as global citizens can do to contribute to a better life for all people now and in the future. For more information on the Atlas Program, visit http://atlas.slu.edu or contact Michelle Lorenzini at lorenzms@slu.edu.
