VAIRA VĪĶE-FREIBERGA

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (born 1 December 1937) was the sixth President of

Latvia and the first female President of Latvia. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected in

2003.

Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is a professor and interdisciplinary

scholar having published eleven books and numerous articles, essays and book chapters in addition to her

extensive speaking engagements.

• As President of the Republic of Latvia 1999–2007, she was instrumental in achieving membership in the European Union and NATO for her country. She is active in international politics, was named Special Envoy to the Secretary General on United Nations reform and was official candidate for UN Secretary General in 2006.

Early life and education

• Vaira Vīķe was born in Riga, Latvia. At the end of 1944, as the second Soviet occupation of Latvia begun, her parents escaped to Nazi Germany. There she received her first education in Latvian primary school at a refugee camp in Lübeck, Germany, where her baby sister died. Then her family moved to Casablanca in French Morocco in 1949. In Morocco she attended French primary school at Daourat hydroelectric dam village where she learned the French language. Vaira then went on to attend Collège de jeunes filles de Mers-Sultan in Casablanca. In 1954 her family moved to Toronto, Canada, where she completed high school.

• Vaira Vīķe attended Victoria College of the University of Toronto, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1958 and a master of arts in 1960, in psychology. She worked at the

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce as a teller and part-time as a supervisor in Branksome Hall Boarding School for Girls. In

1958, being fluent in English, French, Latvian, Spanish and German,she worked as a translator and the next year went on to work as a Spanish teacher for grades 12 and 13 at Ontario Ladies' College. Upon completion of her masters degree, Vīķe

became a clinical psychologist at the Toronto Psychiatric Hospital in late 1960. She left in 1961 to resume her education at the McGill University in Montreal while also lecturing part-

time at Concordia University. She earned her PhD in experimental psychology under the supervision of Donald

Hebb, graduating from McGill University in 1965.

Professional life

From 1965 to 1998 Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga pursued a professorial career at the

Department of Psychology of the French-speaking University of Montreal, where she

taught psychopharmacology, psycholinguistics, scientific theories, experimental methods,

language and cognitive processes. At the same time she did scholarly research on semiotics,

poetics and the structural analysis of computer-accessible texts from an oral

tradition—the Latvian folksongs.

During this period she authored ten books and about 160 articles, essays or book chapters and

has given over 250 speeches, allocutions and scientific communications in English, French or Latvian, and gave numerous radio, TV and press

interviews in various languages.

In June 1998 she was elected Professor emerita at the University of Montreal and returned to

her native land, Latvia, where on 19 October the Prime Minister named her Director of the newly

founded Latvian Institute.

Presidency of the Republic of Latvia (1999–2007)

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga became President of Latvia in 1999. Although not a candidate in the first

ballot, she was drafted by the Saeima (Latvian Parliament) and was elected to the office of

President of Latvia on 20 June. She was sworn in on 8 July. Her approval rating has ranged

between 70% and 85%, and in 2003 she was re-elected for a second term of four years with 88

votes out of 96.

She has actively exercised the powers conferred on 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. She was an invited speaker at numerous international events (such as the joint session of the United States Congress,in June 2006), as well as an outspoken

pundit on social issues, moral values, European historical dialogue, and democracy. During her presidency she regularly visited towns and villages to meet her constituents in person, and received many thousands of letters yearly from Latvians.

After presidency

Since the end of her presidency in July 2007, Dr. Vīķe-Freiberga has been actively participating as

an invited speaker at a wide variety of international events. She is a founding member

of the Club of Madrid, founding member and Co-Chair the Nizami Ganjavi International

Center, a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and honorary patron of

several Foundations

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga is a member of :• the Club of Madrid, an independent organization of more than 90

former democratic statesmen. • the Global Leadership Foundation, and organization which works to

support democratic leadership, prevent and resolve conflict through mediation and promote good governance in the form of democratic institutions, open markets, human rights and the rule of law .

• the Fondation Chirac's honour committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace.

• the Nizami Ganjavi International Center Co-Chair, it is a cultural, non-profit, non-political organization dedicated to the memory of Azerbaijani poet, Nizami Ganjavi.

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Our students’ work

Selected works

Saules balsi: Latvian Sun Song Melodies (in Latvian and English) (2005). Linguistics and Poetics of Latvian Folk Songs: Essays in Honour of the Sesquicentennial of the Birth of Kr. Barons (1989).

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