Dates:
November 14, 1954 -Occupation:
professor, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice’s Early Life
Condoleezza Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama. In 1974, at the age of nineteen, she received her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Denver. She graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981.
Rice’s Professional Career
In 1981, Rice became a professor of political science at Stanford University. She received two awards for teaching, the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching (1984) and the School of Humanities and Sciences Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching (1993). Rice was a Hoover Institute fellow from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1999, she served as Stanford University’s Provost.She is the author of numerous articles on foreign policy and international affairs, and three books, Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984), The Gorbachev Era (1986), and Germany Unified and Europe Transformed (1995).
Rice’s Service in the Public Sector
During the George Bush Administration, from 1989 to 1991, Rice served as the Director and later the Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council and as a Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.In addition to Rice’s service in the government, she has served on numerous boards of directors, including the International Advisory Council of J.P. Morgan, Chevron, the Hewlett Foundation, and Charles Schwab. Rice also co-founded the Center for a New Generation, a support fund for schools in East Palo Alto and East Menlo Park, California.
Rice began serving as President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor on January 22, 2001. On November 16, 2004, after Colin Powell resigned as the secretary of state, President Bush named Rice as Powell’s successor. Dr. Rice was confirmed by the Senate in December 2004.
