2023 International Citizen of the Year Award Celebration

  • 15 Mar 2023
  • 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM
  • Tobin Center for the Performing Arts

Registration

  • -Seating for Table of 10
    -Recognition on the World Affairs Council of San Antonio website
    -Recognition during Reception and Dinner
  • -Premium Seating for Table of 10
    -Sponsorship of three student guests
    -VIP Reception for 10 guests
    -Recognition on the World Affairs Council of San Antonio website
    -Recognition during Reception and Dinner
    -Recognition during select 2023 Youth Engagement Programs
    -Complimentary valet parking for you and your guests
  • -Prime Seating for Table of 10
    -Sponsorship of two student guests
    -VIP Reception for 10 guests
    -Recognition on the World Affairs Council of San Antonio website
    -Recognition during Reception and Dinner
  • -Seating for 1

    For individual ticket information, please contact ic23@wacofsa.org
  • -Premier Seating for two Tables of 10
    -Sponsorship of five student guests
    -VIP Reception for 20 guests
    -Recognition during Reception and Dinner
    -Exclusive branding on photo backdrop
    -Recognition on the World Affairs Council of San Antonio website
    -Recognition at all 2023 Youth Engagement Programs
    -Complimentary valet parking for you and your guests

Registration is closed


The World Affairs Council of San Antonio cordially invites you to join us on March 15th for the 2023 International Citizen of the Year Award Celebration. 

Since 1985, the World Affairs Council has honored an individual who has significantly contributed to San Antonio’s growth as an international city. On March 15, 2023, the Council will honor and recognize Waheeda Thawerbhoy Kara.

Featuring Keynote Speaker, Doris Kearns Goodwin who is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and world-renowned presidential historian

Your participation ensures the sustainability of programs the World Affairs Council of San Antonio provides the community, including educational programs for local youth. With your support, the Council can continue to promote crucial public understanding of world affairs while enhancing San Antonio’s participation in a global community.


Attire: This affair is black tie. Dark suits, long or knee length dresses are acceptable. Weather looks fantastic and dinner and reception will be held indoors. 

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS


WAHEEDA THAWERBHOY KARA

Waheeda Thawerbhoy Kara has been fighting for social justice for over 35 years. Born in Chittagong Bangladesh, Waheeda migrated to the United States in 1981 and has resided in San Antonio Texas since 1987. Her life of service began at the age of 17.

She has served as a National Board Member for FOCUS Humanitarian Assistance, as Vice Chairman for Aga Khan Foundation USA, President of Abode (Contemplative Care for the Dying) President of the Staff Organization at Our Lady of the Lake University, on advisory boards of Awaaz - Victims of Domestic Violence and McNair Scholars Program and as Board Member for Musical Bridges Around the World, Our AIM Foundation and San Antonio Cancer Educators Collaborative.

Her major work with the City of San Antonio started in 2008 when she co-founded the Muslim Cultural Heritage Society. She brought the first ever city-sponsored Eid Festival in collaboration with multiple organizations including San Antonio Museum of Art. She was then tasked with bringing the Aga Khan Foundation's Partnership Walk to alleviate global poverty to San Antonio, which started in 2012 and runs annually to this day. Most recently, she was appointed by the Mayor of San Antonio to serve on the Mayor's Council on Police Community Relations.

Her exemplary life of service was featured as the cover story for San Antonio Magazine and she was given the title of one of the 50 most inspirational women of San Antonio. Dream Week has called her a Woman of Substance and the Philippine Women of America honored her with the Asian American Hall of Fame Award. The City of San Antonio MLK Commission nominated her for the “Unity of Humanity” Award and the State of Texas recognized her with a Resolution in her name for 30 years of civic service in Texas. Currently she serves as the Chair for SOL Interfaith Center.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER


DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN

 Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 best-selling author. Since 2020 she has served as executive producer for the History Channel’s miniseries events Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, with more to come! 

Her seventh book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, was published in September 2018 to critical acclaim and became an instant New York Times bestseller. A culmination of Goodwin’s five-decade career of studying the American presidents focusing on Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson, the book provides an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field, and for all of us in our everyday lives. 

Goodwin’s career as a presidential historian and author was inspired when as a 24-year-old graduate student at Harvard she was selected to join the White House Fellows, one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. Goodwin worked with Johnson in the White House and later assisted him in the writing of his memoirs. 

She then wrote Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, which became a national bestseller and achieved critical acclaim. It was re-released in 2019 with a new foreword highlighting LBJ’s accomplishments in domestic affairs that have stood the test of time. 

Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys was adapted into an award-winning five-part television miniseries. Her memoir Wait Till Next Year is the heartwarming story of growing up loving her family and baseball. Her sixth book, The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, won the Carnegie Medal and is being developed into a film. Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln served as the basis for Steven Spielberg’s hit film Lincoln and was awarded the prestigious Lincoln Prize, the inaugural Book Prize for American History, and the Lincoln Leadership Prize. 

Well known for her appearances and commentary on television, Goodwin is frequently seen in documentaries including Ken Burns’ The History of Baseball and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History; and on news and cable networks, and shows including Meet The Press and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She played herself as a teacher on The Simpsons and a historian on American Horror Story. 

Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College. She earned a doctorate degree in Government from Harvard University, where she taught Government, including a course on the American Presidency. Among her many honors and awards, Goodwin was awarded the Charles Frankel Prize, the Sarah Josepha Hale Medal, the New England Book Award, as well as the Carl Sandburg Literary Award. Goodwin recently founded Pastimes Productions with Beth Laski to develop and produce film, television and digital projects. 

Goodwin lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room in 1979, and is a devoted fan of the World Series-winning team.