Condoleezza Rice to speak at 2002 Commencement

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice served as Stanford’s provost from 1993 to 1999.

National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice will be the 2002 Commencement speaker, Stanford’s senior class presidents announced Monday.

Condoleezza Rice (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

Rice, Stanford’s former provost, became the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs — commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor — in January 2001. She served as Stanford’s provost from 1993 to 1999.

Rice was recommended to President John Hennessy by senior class presidents Tai-li Chang, Shiao Chien, Serge Kassardjian and Nicholas Larson.

“This is an inspired recommendation and it gives me great pleasure to accept it,” Hennessy said. “Professor Rice is not only someone who has a central place on the world stage, she has a long-standing relationship with the university and a deep loyalty to its students, faculty and staff.”

Kassardjian said that the class presidents were extremely pleased that Rice accepted the invitation to deliver the Commencement address.

“The events of 9/11 will forever frame our senior year,” he said. “We wanted a speaker who would be able to talk about that day with authority and perspective. We can think of no better way to end the year than with the observations and advice of a leader who figures so prominently in confronting the issues of our time.”

Larson noted that Rice’s last year as provost coincided with most of the senior class’s freshman year.

“I remember very well Provost Rice speaking to us at Freshman Welcome,” he said. “Her achievements and great warmth made a tremendous impression on us. The profound events of the last five months have made it clear that we are not alone in the pride we take in her leadership.”

Rice joined the Stanford faculty in 1981. As a professor of political science and Hoover Institution senior fellow, her teaching and research interests have included the politics of East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, the comparative study of military institutions, and international security policy. She won two of the university’s highest teaching honors — the 1984 Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 1993 School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching.

From 1989 through March 1991, the period of German reunification and the final days of the Soviet Union, Rice served in the first Bush administration as director, and then senior director, of Soviet and East European affairs in the National Security Council, and as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. During the 2000 presidential campaign, she served as a top foreign policy adviser to George W. Bush.

Stanford’s 111th Commencement will be held on Sunday, June 16, and will attract as many as 25,000 graduates and family members to Stanford Stadium.