World Leaders Forum Hosts 79th President of the UN General Assembly

Seton Hall University will welcome Ambassador Philemon Yang, president of the United Nations General Assembly, to the World Leaders Forum at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, in the Chancellor’s Suite of the Bishop Dougherty University Center on the South Orange campus. Hosted by the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, the World Leaders Forum provides a space for dialogue where distinguished visitors and students have an opportunity to discuss critical global concerns. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested due to limited seating. Register for the event here. For those unable to attend in person, the event is available via live stream here.

As President of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Ambassador Yang is responsible for chairing and presiding over the proceedings of the General Assembly through 2026. He oversees enforcement of procedural rules and represents the assembly throughout United Nations committees and member states. President Yang is a veteran politician and former prime minister of Cameroon (2009 to 2019). He served as his country’s ambassador to Canada from 1984 to 1985 and then high commissioner in Canada between 1995 and 2004. He has been Cameroon’s dean of the diplomatic corps in Canada. Currently, he chairs the African Union's Panel of Eminent Africans.

“Hosting President Yang is a great honor for us. It’s essential that our students engage with the leaders and individuals driving international cooperation and diplomacy,” said Courtney Smith, Ph.D., dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, and vice dean of the School of Law, Seton Hall University. “The World Leaders Forum prepares Seton Hall students to become leaders of diplomacy in the future and provides a unique opportunity for our students to learn about and discuss the challenges we face in our global society, as well as to see how we, as individuals, have a role in addressing them.”

Born on June 14, 1947, in Jikejem-Oku, located in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, President Yang received his law degree from the University of Yaoundé. He is a graduate of the National School of Administration and Magistracy. He holds a master’s degree in international law from the University of Ottawa and in business administration from Century University in the United States. Throughout his career, President Yang has worked toward the protection of human rights and dignity, the rule of law, solving humanitarian issues, combating climate change and the reform and revitalization of the United Nations. He led Cameroonian delegations to high-level economic summits in Washington, D.C., London, New Delhi and several other major international cities. In the context of Africa, President Yang has contributed to regional diplomacy by taking part in various sessions of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government, as well as the summit on the institutional reform of the African Union.

Yang has also held several crucial government positions including vice-minister of territorial administration (1975–1979), minister of mines and energy (1979–1984) and minister, deputy secretary general at the presidency of the republic (2004–2009).

Engaging with Global Leaders

The World Leaders Forum, presented by the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, provides an opportunity for speakers to encourage dialogue in search of new avenues for building peace. As part of this signature program, the School of Diplomacy has welcomed United Nations Secretaries-General António Guterres, Ban Ki-Moon and Kofi Annan, UNGA President Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi and Dennis Frances; U.S. Ambassadors to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Samantha Power and Susan Rice, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winners Nadia Murad and Leymah Gbowee, former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Tony Blair, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, and former President of Poland Lech Walesa, among other distinguished visitors.

The event will take place on the South Orange campus of Seton Hall University, 400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, NJ, 07079. All are welcome to attend in person or via livestream.

About the School of Diplomacy and International Relations

An affiliate member of the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs, the Seton Hall University School of Diplomacy and International Relations is a professional school offering graduate and undergraduate programs, online and in person. The school embraces Seton Hall's long tradition of a values-based education emphasizing servant leadership, seeking to make a substantive impact in solving global challenges. With a diverse student body and faculty, intimate class sizes and an agile curriculum, diplomacy students are colleagues, working on collaborative research, policy and field work and innovations alongside faculty. To learn more, click here.