Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Alpha Chi Omega

To celebrate Women’s History Month, the NPC blog will spotlight Panhellenic women who are “Working to Form a More Perfect Union.” Along with the theme of Women’s History Month, we recognize women in public service and government. The third featured Panhellenic woman is former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Alpha Chi Omega.

Dr. Rice was born in Birmingham, Ala., and attended the University of Denver where she

received a bachelor’s degree in political science. She went on to receive a master’s from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. from the University of Denver’s Graduate School of International Studies. She served Stanford University as its first woman provost from 1993-99.

She was appointed national security adviser by President George W. Bush in 2001, becoming the first black woman and the second woman ever to hold the position. She was later the first black woman to serve as the U.S. Secretary of State. Rice dedicated her position to “transformational diplomacy” with the goal of creating and maintaining well-governed states around the world. She sent American diplomats to troubled locations such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Angola and required them to become fluent in two foreign languages.

She has written several books: “Germany Unified and Europe Transformed” (1995) with Philip Zelikow, “The Gorbachev Era” (1986) with Alexander Dallin and “Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army” (1984). She has also received several awards such as the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work with Youth/Teens and the NAACP Image Award – President’s Award.

In 2009, Rice became a founding partner of RiceHadleyGates LLC, which focuses on providing strategic counsel to major corporations. She also sits on the board of Dropbox, the George W. Bush Institute and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, to name just a few.

Rice currently works as a professor of political science at Stanford University. She is also the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution and the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

“Differences can be a strength rather than a handicap.” —Condoleezza Rice

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