The Grammy Award-winning singer received the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at a ceremony on Feb. 28.
Rihanna is being honored for several philanthropic efforts. She built a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer in her home nation of Barbados. She created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program — named for her grandparents — for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries.
She also supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project to provide children with access to education in more than 60 developing countries.
Previous winners include actor James Earl Jones, activist Malala Yousafzai and four U.N. secretaries general.