Rihanna to be honoured by Harvard University scholars

R&B superstar Rihanna has been named the recipient of Harvard University's Humanitarian of the Year Award. The 29-year-old singer will accept the Peter J Gomes honour at the Boston, Massachusetts university next week, reported Billboard.

The Harvard Foundation's director S Allen Counter has revealed Rihanna will be feted for her charitable work with the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program, named after her grandmother and grandfather, and her efforts in promoting education. In the announcement, the Grammy winner's many charitable actions were noted, including the center to diagnose and treat breast cancer she built in her native Barbados.

"Rihanna has charitably built a state-of- the-art centre for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados," he said.

She will be presented with the award at a Sanders Theatre ceremony. Past honorees include James Earl Jones and Arthur Ashe. The news of her latest accolade comes a day after Rihanna made chart history in the US with her 30th top 10 single. 'Love on the Brain' breaks a tie with Michael Jackson for the third most top 10 songs. She earned her 30th smash a few days after her 29th birthday. She now has appeared on 30 tracks that have hit the top 10. Only Madonna and the Beatles have more, with 38 and 34, respectively.