Rihanna to receive Harvard's Humanitarian Award

Rihanna may use the handle "badgalriri" on social media, but the pop singer's good deeds haven't gone unnoticed by Harvard University.

The Ivy League school has named the chart-topper its latest recipient of the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award, with the Grammy-winning performer to receive the honour at a ceremony on Tuesday.

Barbados-born Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is being recognized for her support of education and health care in the Caribbean and developing countries.

The singer built "a state-of-the-art center for oncology and nuclear medicine to diagnose and treat breast cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, Barbados," according to S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation.

"She has also created the Clara and Lionel Foundation Scholarship Program (named for her grandmother and grandfather)for students attending college in the U.S. from Caribbean countries, and supports the Global Partnership for Education and Global Citizen Project, a multiyear campaign that will provide children with access to education in over 60 developing countries, giving priority to girls and those affected by lack of access to education in the world today."

She joins previous Harvard Foundation honourees such as actor James Earl Jones, female education activist and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, tennis champion and activist Arthur Ashe and former U.N. Secretaries General Ban Ki-moon, Kofi Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Javier Perez de Cuellar.

Rihanna released her latest album, Anti, in 2015, but the fashion magazine favourite has also branched out into acting, with current projects includingthe TV prequel seriesBates Moteland the upcoming filmOcean's Eight.