Julieta Castellanos
Honduras | Rector, National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH)
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Julieta Castellanos is a Honduran sociologist and activist. She served as rector of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) from 2009 to 2017. Castellanos is an outspoken leader in the campaign against violence in her home country, denouncing police corruption, advocating for measures to curb violent crime, and pushing for judicial reform. A public figure for decades, Castellanos wrote a newspaper column for 13 years and founded the Observatorio de Violencia at UNAH to analyze crime statistics in 2004. She also served on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission following the ousting of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya in 2009.
In 2013, the US State Department awarded Castellanos the International Women of Courage Award, presented by US secretary of state John Kerry and first lady Michelle Obama. In 2012, she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Foundation at the Instituto Hondureño de Cultura Interamericana, awarded by US ambassador Lisa Kubiske.
Castellanos joined the Dialogue as a member in 2014 and is an ambassador of connectivity for educational purposes.