Simon Fraser University President Andrew Petter and Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue Academic Director Mark L. Winston presented the 2012 Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue to Karen Armstrong on March 20. The award citation recognized Karen Armstrong for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in advancing understanding about and among world religions, and promoting compassion as a way of life.

Karen Armstrong is an internationally recognized author and one of the world’s most thought-provoking and original public thinkers on the role of religion in historical and contemporary life. In 2008, she was awarded the TED Prize in support of her call for a council of religious and spiritual leaders to draw up a “Charter for Compassion.” The resulting Charter applies shared moral priorities to foster greater global understanding, and has grown to a considerable international following.