Photos courtesy of David Miller, Sentinel-Tribune
Alumna recognized for defending human rights in international court Her career prosecuting disgraced dictators and accused warlords placed Col. Brenda Joyce Hollis ’68 in the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame. Hollis (U.S. Air Force, retired) defends human rights as an international criminal prosecutor for the United Nations. She was pivotal during the Yugoslav Tribunal in 1994, the first international trials in which rape was defined as torture and recognized as a war crime. She also assisted the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda — a trial that produced the first guilty verdict for rape as a crime against humanity, in 1998. She is now prosecutor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and leads the ongoing trial of the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor. He is charged with 11 counts of war crimes and is accused of making bribes with blood diamonds. Hollis earned her bachelor’s degree in liberal arts in 1968 from Bowling Green State University. She was an outstanding student and standout athlete in several pre-Title IX women’s intercollegiate sports, including field hockey, softball and basketball.
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After graduation, she turned down a job offer from the CIA to volunteer for the Peace Corps. Upon the urging of her sister who was also enlisted, Hollis later accepted a position as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force. She earned her juris doctorate from the University of Denver, and returned to active duty in 1979. She worked within the Air Force’s judicial system until retiring with the rank of colonel in 1998. Hollis was recognized as one of BGSU’s 100 Most Prominent Alumni in 2010 and was also named BGSU Distinguished Alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences in 2004. Though Hollis has also received many professional awards, she told BGSU’s 10th president, Carol A. Cartwright, in 2010 that it was especially meaningful to be honored by her alma mater. She was inducted into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame by the Ohioana Library Association in August, after a nomination by Cartwright. “The values of integrity and fairness have clearly directed her legal career,” Cartwright said of Hollis. “She is a fine example of how Ohio women are making the world a better place.”