 Madeleine Albright to Deliver Duke Commencement Address
First female U.S. secretary of state broke new ground on the world stage
Thursday, February 5, 2004 | DURHAM, N.C. -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will deliver Duke University's 2004 commencement address Sunday, May 9, Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane announced Thursday. When sworn in on Jan. 23, 1997, Albright became the nation's first female secretary of state. She currently is a principal in The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm that she founded in Washington, D.C. Madeleine Albright has been a tireless champion of the Middle East peace process and international cooperation," Keohane said. "She has broken new ground as a respected woman leader on the world stage. We are honored to have such a distinguished leader speak to our graduates and their families." Gloria Borges, the president of Duke's senior class, said she was "delighted" to hear that Albright would be speaking at commencement. "She is a great representative for women in politics and leadership," Borges said. "During a time when foreign policy is so necessary to facilitate world peace, we're very interested to hear what she has to say." During Albright's tenure as secretary of state, NATO intervened to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo; a stable peace was reached in the Balkans; the number of democratic nations grew in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America; U.S.-China relations improved; and the U.S. experienced a growth in trade in the Americas, in Africa through the African Growth Opportunity Act, and through the conclusion of numerous other agreements that facilitated American business overseas. In addition to her work today with The Albright Group, Albright is also the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service; the first Distinguished Scholar of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Business School; chairman of The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs; chair of The PEW Global Attitudes Project and president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Albright also serves on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange. Prior to her appointment as secretary of state, Albright served from 1993-97 as the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of the National Security Council. In 1995, she led the U.S. delegation to the UN's Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, China. She also has served as president of the Center for National Policy, a non-profit research organization formed in 1981 by representatives from government, industry, labor and education to promote discussion of domestic and international issues. She has been a research professor of International Affairs and director of the Women in Foreign Service Programs at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses in international affairs, U.S. foreign policy, Russian foreign policy and Central and Eastern European politics. While there, she was responsible for developing and implementing programs to enhance women's professional opportunities in international affairs. Albright also has served as a senior fellow in Soviet and Eastern European Affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, conducting research in developments in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. From 1978-1981, she was a staff member on the National Security Council, as well as a White House staff member, where she was responsible for foreign policy legislation. From 1976-1978, she served as chief legislative assistant to U.S. Sen. Edmund S. Muskie. Albright was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1937. Two years later, her family fled to England to escape Hitler's rise to power. Her family eventually made its way to the U.S. in 1950, and Albright became a U.S. citizen in 1957. Awarded a B.A. from Wellesley College with honors in political science, she studied at the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University, received a certificate from the Russian Institute at Columbia University, and earned her master's and doctorate from Columbia's Department of Public Law and Government. In her autobiography "Madam Secretary: A Memoir" (Miramax), released last September, Albright provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the Clinton administration and its international efforts. The book also contains personal anecdotes about many of the world's leaders. Albright has three daughters and six grandchildren. For more information, contact Keith Lawrence | phone: (919) 681-8059 | email: keith.lawrence@duke.edu. |
