Rihanna is named Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year

Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year. (Photo: The Canadian Press/Facebook)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Rihanna has been named the 2017 Harvard University Humanitarian of the Year.

The Grammy Award-winning singer will receive the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony scheduled for Feb. 28.

Rihanna is being honoured for several philanthropic efforts. She built a state-of-the-art centre for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados. She created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program — named for her grandparents — for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries.

She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project to provide children with access to education in more than 60 developing countries.

Previous winners include actor James Earl Jones, activist Malala Yousafzai (mah-LAH’-lah YOO’-suhf-zeye) and four U.N. secretaries general.