Dr. Beverlee Bruce served as U.S. Peace Corps Director in Liberia
Dr. Beverlee Bruce
Dr. Beverlee Bruce is Chair of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. A member of the Women's Commission since, 1991, Dr. Bruce has participated in Commission delegations to Rwanda, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, South Africa and Mozambique to assess the situation and needs of refugee and displaced women and children. She has also represented the Commission in Croatia and Sarajevo, participated in international conferences on refugees and displaced persons, and led the Women's Commission delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. The Women's Commission is the only organization in the United States dedicated solely to speaking out on behalf of refugee women and children.
Dr. Bruce is a Program Director at the Social Science Research Council where she manages the Council's Mellon Minority Fellowship Program. Previously, Dr. Bruce directed the Mellon Migration Seminars Program, a project to foster interest among students at selected Historically Black Colleges and Universities to work in the field of migration and refugee services. The program is based at the Clark Atlanta University's School of International Affairs and Development.
Dr. Bruce, social anthropologist, development specialist and educator, has had experience in Africa and the Caribbean since 1975 implementing and evaluating rural community development projects that utilize appropriate education, communication and organizing strategies as the basis of insuring effective community participation. She worked for three years in Liberia as the Chief Technical Advisor for the United Nations Self-Help Village Development Project. Dr. Bruce also served as U.S. Peace Corps Director in Liberia and has taught at the City University of New York, Temple, Harvard, Northwestern and Howard Universities, as well as at the Universities of Massachusetts / Boston, California / Los Angeles, and Liberia, and at Wellesley College.
Dr. Bruce was awarded a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. In addition, she studied linguistics at the University of California / Los Angeles, where she was certified to teach English as a Second Language. She received her B.A. in English from California State University / Los Angeles and an A.A. in Drama from Los Angeles City College.
Dr. Bruce is on the boards of Adventures in Health, Education and Development (AHEAD), the Africa Panel of the American Friends Service Committee, Friends of Liberia, the Coalition for an International Criminal Court, the Global Forum, the International Rescue Committee, Solar Cookers International, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and the Women's Foreign Policy Group.
