Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright will be the featured speaker during Elon University's Spring Convocation for Honors at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31, in Alumni Gym. Tickets are still available for the general public and for students, faculty and staff.
Because of the anticipated size of the audience, the Office of Cultural Programs recommends that ticket holders allow ample time for parking and for getting seated in Alumni Gym.
Albright has devoted her life to national security and foreign policy. As the first woman U.S. Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001, Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated democracy and human rights, and promoted U.S. trade and business, labor, and environmental standards abroad. She served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997. While at this post, she led the U.S. delegation to the United Nation’s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995.
Before her return to public office, Albright was the director of Women in Foreign Service Programs and a Research Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University. As a professor, Albright wrote extensively on change in communist systems, concentrating on the role of the media. From 1989 to 1992, she served as president of the Center for National Policy, a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Albright was also a member of President Jimmy Carter’s White House staff and the National Security Council from 1978 to 1981. Before that, she served as Chief Legislative Assistant to former U.S. Senator Edmund S. Muskie of Maine.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Albright’s family moved to the United States to flee the Nazis and then the Communists. She lived in Colorado before earning a bachelor’s degree with Honors from Wellesley College, and master’s and doctorate degrees from Columbia University’s Department of Public Law and Government, as well as a certificate from its Russian Institute.
Since returning to private life, Albright has given her time to The Albright Group LLC, a global strategy firm; Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm. She is a professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. She also chairs both the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and the Pew Global Attitudes Project and serves as president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Dr. Albright co-chairs the UNDP’s Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Trustees for the Aspen Institute and the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security.
Albright is also the author of Madam Secretary: A Memoir, published in 2003. In 2006, Albright published The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. Her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership was published in January 2008.
Albright’s address will highlight Spring Convocation, which honors Dean’s List and President’s List students, the faculty, graduate students, the Class of 2009 and members of the Elon Society, the premier annual giving group at Elon.