Arvonne S. Fraser

Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, November 6, 2007

Arvonne S. Fraser is a native of Minnesota and earned a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Minnesota in 1948. She is a senior fellow emerita of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, where she served as a Senior Fellow from 1981 to 1994. She is described as an inspirational role model and leader who has worked tirelessly to illuminate and transform human rights and the status of women. She is a founder and former director of the Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW) and co-founder for the Center on Women and Public Policy. She served as the ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and as coordinator of the Office of Women in Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Louis B. Sohn Human Rights Award, the Superior Honor Award, and the Elizabeth Boyer Award. She received the Minneapolis YWCA’s Outstanding Achievement Award and the Minneapolis International Citizen Award. In 1979, she received the honorary Doctor of Laws from Macalester College.