Neal Porter 2009

Neal R. Porter

BA Political Science and International Studies ’89
Minneapolis, Minn.

Neal Porter has dedicated his career to international humanitarian efforts. In his current position as the director of international services for the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT), Porter has visited more than 50 countries to bring aid and comfort to war and torture survivors.

Under Porter’s guidance, CVT provides technical assistance, training, and direct mental health rehabilitative services to survivors of war, torture, human trafficking, gender-based violence, and other highly traumatizing human rights atrocities. Porter currently oversees programs in Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jordan, and he will soon launch programs in Zimbabwe and Syria. He has been a tireless advocate for victims of atrocities, securing both financial and moral support for CVT’s work from a variety of institutions, including the U.S. government.

After graduating from Iowa State, where he was involved in student residence government and the Student Alumni Association, Porter received his master’s degree from Yale University in 1993. He served in Bosnia following the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord on housing and reconstruction projects for refugees, and managed programs providing health materials such as contraceptives and mosquito nets in several countries in Africa while working for the agency Population Services International in the mid-1990s.