Vaira VÄ«Ä·e-Freiberga

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
President of Latvia
In office 8 July 1999 – 8 July 2007
Prime Minister(s)	Vilis Krištopans	Andris Šķēle	Andris Bērziņš	Einars Repše	Indulis Emsis	Aigars Kalvītis
Preceded by	Guntis Ulmanis
Succeeded by	Valdis Zatlers
Personal details
Born	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga 1 December 1937 (age 76) Riga, Latvia
Nationality	Latvian
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Imants Freibergs
Alma mater	University of Toronto

Vaira Vike-Freiberga was born on December 1, 1937, in Riga, the Latvian capital. After being elected in 1999, and re-elected in 2003, she was the first female President of Latvia. Since 1957, she has been actively engaged in community service, focusing on questions of Latvian identity and culture, and the political future of the Baltic States. She has actively exercised the powers conferred to the President by the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia and has played a leading role in achieving Latvia’s membership in NATO and the European Union.

Biography

From 1965 to 1998, Vaira Vike-Freiberga pursued a professorial career at the Department of Psychology of the French-speaking University of Montreal, where she taught psycho-pharmacology, psycho-linguistics, scientific theories, experimental methods, language and cognitive processes. After, she was elected Professor emerita at the University of Montreal and returned to her native land, Latvia. The Prime Minister appointed her as the Director of the newly founded Latvian Institute. In 1999, Vaira Vike-Freiberga was elected President of the Republic of Latvia by the Parliament (Saeima). In 2003, she was re-elected for a second term of four years with 88 votes out of 96. She became Member of the Council of Women World Leaders in 1999. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, member of the Writers’ Union of Latvia since 2004, authored ten books and about 160 articles, essays or book chapters and has given over 250 speeches, allocations and scientific communications in English, French or Latvian.

Education

Vike-Freiberga began her schooling in refugee camps in Germany and continued in French Morocco, first at the elementary school in Daourat and then at the Girls’ College Mers-Sultan in Casablanca. In 1958, she obtained her B.A at the University of Toronto after which she got an M.A in Psychology in 1960 at the same University. Resuming her education at McGill University in Montreal, she earned a doctorate (Ph.D.) in experimental psychology in 1965.In 1998, she returned to Latvia to head the Latvian Institute, a non-profit government organization whose goal is to raise the profile of Latvia and Latvians around the world, which she most successfully accomplished.

Notable Work

Her scholarly work had earned her numerous awards from academic and Latvian organizations worldwide. Outspoken pundit on social issues, moral values, European historical dialogue, and democracy, she was awarded the 2005 Hannah Arendt Prize for political thought. Since 1999, she has received many medals and awards, twenty-seven Orders of Merit and ten honorary doctorates.

Further Information

Cultural Diplomacy Lecture Video: A Speech by Dr. Vaira Vike-Freiberga (Former President of Latvia) -- The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy (The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, BERLIN, May 20th -- May 25th)

"The Impact of the Fall of Berlin Wall on Global Politics and the FUTURE of Peacebuilding in a Multi-Polar World" A Lecture by Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Former President of ICD - Latvia The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (BERLIN, November 6th - 10th 2010)

ICD website profile

Europe’s Foreign-Policy Resilience

External Links and References

Presidential profile