Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will deliver the College’s 2016 Commencement address on May 14.
“We proudly welcome Dr. Albright to Scripps College, and eagerly anticipate a glimpse of the person ‘behind the position’ that so many of us admire for her history-making role as America’s first female Secretary of State,” Amy Marcus-Newhall, interim president of Scripps College, said.
Dr. Albright is the daughter of a Czech diplomat whose family sought refuge from the onset of communism in Eastern Europe. She became a U.S. citizen while a college student at Wellesley, one of the nation’s first women’s colleges. Dr. Albright worked in politics and for the National Security Council, then served in the nonprofit sector for part of her career before becoming a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University. From 1993 to 1997, she served as the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. Dr. Albright was appointed in 1997 to the highest-ranking political post for a woman in American history, navigating four years of foreign crises as Secretary of State in the Clinton administration.
As Secretary of State, Dr. Albright reinforced America’s alliances, advocated for democracy and human rights, and promoted American trade, business, labor and environmental standards abroad. She currently serves as Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group and Chair of Albright Capital Management, an affiliated investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets; she also serves as chair of the National Democratic Institute. Dr. Albright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Barack Obama in 2012.
Dr. Albright is the author of five New York Times bestsellers: her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir (2003); The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006); Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership (2008); Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009); and Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937–1948 (2012).
For more information about Commencement 2016, click here.