Hillary Clinton to be installed as university chancellor

The former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be officially installed as Queen's University's first female chancellor at a ceremony later.

The ceremony is being held at the end of the first week of the new academic year.

Mrs Clinton will be formally inaugurated, in person, as the university's 11th chancellor.

She will deliver a speech and confer a number of honorary degrees.

But she has not been able to visit the university in that capacity since then due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mrs Clinton has had an illustrious career serving as a US senator for New York and as first lady during her husband Bill's two terms as US president.

She was also the losing Democratic Party candidate in the presidential election which saw Donald Trump come to power.

During the ceremony, 14 figures from the worlds of business, politics, sport, the arts, policing and education will be awarded honorary degrees.

These include Derry Girls writer and creator Lisa McGee, former Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Sir George Hamilton, and international hockey player Shirley McCay.

Speaking ahead of the event, Mrs Clinton said she was pleased to be in Belfast.

"I am proud of my longstanding connection with Northern Ireland and its people and look forward to continuing to make my contribution to the university over the next few years," she said.

Prof Ian Greer, Queen's president and vice-chancellor, said Mrs Clinton had an "enormous amount" to offer the university and would continue to work as a "key advocate for Queen's on the international stage".

Her inauguration ceremony will come at the end of the first week of the new university year.

The majority of students at Northern Irish universities spent the 2020/21 academic year taking their degree courses online.

The university is also making a special posthumous award to recognise the public service achievements of Norman Houston, director of the Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington for more than 12 years, who died in January.

During the ceremony, the university, with support from the Northern Ireland Bureau in Washington, will announce an annual Norman Houston Study Northern Ireland Scholarship which will support a US student studying at Queen's.