U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to Speak at UA

Media wishing to cover Rice’s and Straw’s speeches are asked to notify Cathy Andreen, 205/348-8322, or Bill McDaniel, 205/348-8327, in advance. Media credentials will be required at the event.

LIVE WEBCAST: For those unable to attend the lecture, a live webcast of the lecture in its entirety will be available on the UA home page on Friday.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will jointly present the Frank A. Nix Lecture at The University of Alabama on Friday, Oct. 21.

The program, presented by UA’s Blackburn Institute, will be at 11 a.m. in Sellers Auditorium of the Bryant Conference Center on the UA campus. The public is invited. Doors to the auditorium will open at 10 a.m.

Dr. Rice became Secretary of State on Jan. 26, 2005, after serving as U.S. national security advisor since 2001. An Alabama native, she is an internationally recognized political science scholar and an award-winning educator.

As a professor of political science, Secretary Rice has been on the Stanford University faculty since 1981. During the period of German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, she served in the first Bush administration as senior director of Soviet and East European Affairs in the National Security Council and as special assistant to the president for National Security Affairs. In 1986, while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, she served as special assistant to the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She has served on the boards of more than a dozen corporations and foundations, and in 1999 concluded a six-year tenure as Stanford University’s provost.

Born in 1954 in Birmingham, Secretary Rice earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver, her master’s from the University of Notre Dame, and her Ph.D. from the University of Denver. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has been awarded honorary doctorates from UA, Morehouse College, the University of Notre Dame, the National Defense University and Michigan State University, among others.

Foreign Secretary Straw was appointed Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in 2001. He served as home secretary from 1997-2001 and as shadow home secretary from 1995-1997. He was shadow environment secretary from 1992-1994 and shadow education secretary from 1987-1992. His previous experience includes serving as a barrister and working for Granada Television’s World in Action program.

Secretary Straw was born in 1946 and educated at Brentwood School, Essex and Leeds University. He is a visiting fellow of Nuffield College Oxford and a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society.

The Frank A. Nix Lecture honors the memory of Frank Albert Nix, a UA graduate, business leader and member of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Nix died tragically in an airplane crash in 1996, the same year he had been honored as the alumnus of the year by the UA National Alumni Association.

A native of Walker County, Nix earned his undergraduate degree in finance from UA’s Culverhouse College of Commerce and Business Administration and his M.B.A. from Samford University. He founded Arlington Properties in 1969 and the company is now considered one of the premier privately owned apartment development companies in the Southeast.

The Nix Lecture was established by the Blackburn Institute to explore ethical leadership in the national arena.

The Blackburn Institute is designed to create a network of leaders, the Blackburn Fellows, who have a clear understanding of the challenges that face the state of Alabama. Outstanding UA students are nominated to participate in the institute as student fellows each year. Fellows explore issues and identify strategic actions that will improve the quality of life for all of Alabama’s citizens.

The Blackburn Institute is named for Dr. John L. Blackburn, long-time UA administrator. Blackburn became dean of men at UA in 1958. In 1963, his dedication to progress and meticulous planning were credited as key elements in the historic peaceful integration of the University.

Blackburn served as vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Denver and returned to UA in 1978 as vice president for educational development. During his career he developed and implemented innovative theories on the restructuring of college campuses and his philosophy of student leaders as change agents for institutions and society.

For more information, visit http://blackburninstitute.ua.edu/.