Condoleezza Rice to speak at 2013 CHRISTUS Spohn Lyceum

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak Wednesday, April 17, 2013 for CHRISTUS Spohn Health System Foundation’s 25th Annual South Texas Lyceum, held at the American Bank Center.
 
Proceeds will benefit the CHRISTUS Spohn Nursing Excellence Endowment to provide advanced education and leadership opportunities for nurses and the Foundation’s permanent endowment to help prepare for the future healthcare needs of our community.
 
The 25th Anniversary Board Chairs include Karen Urban, Former CHRISTUS Spohn Health System Foundation Board Chair and Jen Vogt, current CHRISTUS Spohn Health System Foundation Board Chair. Since 1989, Lyceum guests have had the opportunity to meet and listen to a variety of remarkable leaders and influential people, the first event began with featured speaker, Henry Kissinger, also a former U.S. Secretary of State.
 
From January 2005 through 2009, Rice served as the 66th Secretary of State of the United States, the second woman and first African American woman to hold the post. Rice also served as President George W. Bush’s Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001-05, the first woman to hold the position.
 
During her years as National Security Advisor, the nation grappled with the Sept. 11 attacks, the invasion of Iraq and continued conflicts in the Middle East. Later, Rice championed the expansion of democratic governments abroad and became known for travelling extensively to work closely with the U.S.’s world partners.
 
Rice returned to teaching, and is currently a professor of Political Economy in the Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science at Stanford University.
 
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Rice earned her bachelor's degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver; her master's from the University of Notre Dame; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
 
From 1989 through March 1991, Rice served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff.  She served as Director; Senior Director of Soviet and East European Affairs; and, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, Rice also served as Special Assistant to the Director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
 
She served as Stanford University’s Provost from 1993-99, during which she was the institution's chief budget and academic officer. As Provost, she was responsible for a $1.5 billion annual budget and the academic program involving 1,400 faculty members and 14,000 students. In 1997, she also served on the Federal Advisory Committee on Gender -- Integrated Training in the Military.
 
She has authored and co-authored numerous books, including two bestsellers, “No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington” (2011) and “Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family” (2010); “Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft” (1995) with Philip Zelikow; “The Gorbachev Era” (1986) with Alexander Dallin; and “Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army” (1984).