(Photo: Flickr / Kanaka Menehune)

Actor and activist Danny Glover has been invested in transformational movements since his college years, where he helped organize a five-month long student strike at San Francisco State University that led to the creation of the first School of Ethnic Studies in the country.

Since then, he’s protested the Vietnam War, fought against colonialism and racism in Africa, and has advocated for more access to education and economic opportunities. He’s served as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program and a UNICEF ambassador.

And now, he is joining the Institute for Policy Studies board.

Glover was first introduced to IPS by another board member, Harry Belafonte. Belafonte has described Glover as the best friend he’s had in the business “since Paul Robeson.”

After discussing IPS’s close strategic ties to national and global community-led  economic justice work, Glover accepted a board invitation in May.

IPS board member James Early said Glover’s collaboration with progressive transformation projects, especially with Africa and the African Diaspora, as well as his role as UN Ambassador for the Decade of Peoples of African Descent will help strengthen IPS’s connections to progressive, citizen-driven democracy throughout the world.