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Houston Grammy award-winning singer Shakira has been honored by Harvard University with 2011 Artist of the Year award.
Harvard Foundation director S Allen Counter said the 'Hips Don't Lie' hitmaker, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, was honored for her "distinguished history of creativity," as well as for her charitable contributions.

After accepting the award on Saturday, the 34-year-old singer challenged Harvard students to do more to improve education in developing countries.

Shakira founded the Barefoot Foundation to provide education and nutrition to children in impoverished areas of her native Colombia. She is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Previous winners of the Harvard award include Sharon Stone, Will Smith, Jackie Chan and Herbie Hancock.

Shakira is the winner of two Grammy Awards, seven Latin Grammy Awards and twelve Billboard Latin Music Awards.

She is also the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, and the second most successful female Latin singer after Gloria Estefan, having sold over 60 million albums worldwide according to Sony Music.

Her US album sales stand at 9.6 million. Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number one spot on the US Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.

Shakira is to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well. Shakira was ranked the 76th artist of the 2000 -10 artist of the decade by Billboard.

Her single 'Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)', was chosen as the official song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The song has received generally positive critical reception, and has become a worldwide smash hit and the biggest selling World Cup song of all time.

On YouTube, the English version of the music video is the 3rd most watched video of all time with over 300 million views. Her seventh studio album, the bilingual Sale el Sol, was released last October.