Madeleine Albright to speak at Purdue as part of Engineers Week
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The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 8 p.m. in the Purdue Memorial Union North and South ballrooms. The event concludes with a book signing of Albright's autobiography from 9:15-10:15 p.m. in Purdue Memorial Union, Room 118.
Tickets for the lecture are recommended and can be picked up at the John W. Hicks Undergraduate Library and Siegesmund Engineering Library on campus or at Borders Books, 348 E. State St., West Lafayette. Tickets are limited to four per person. The event is sponsored by the College of Engineering.
"As secretary of state, one of Madeleine Albright's goals was to promote American business, labor and environmental standards around the world," said Linda Katehi, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering. "We look forward to hearing her talk about how geopolitics has affected the issue of globalization and its implications for U.S. trade, innovation and education."
Albright, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, was confirmed in 1997 as the first woman secretary of state and was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government.
Her accomplishments as secretary of state include the expansion and modernization of NATO and its successful campaign to reverse ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. She worked to promote peace in the Balkans, for the reduction of nuclear dangers from Russia and the expansion of democracy in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. She also sought to expand trade and human rights in China and to increase trade in Africa through the African Growth Opportunity Act.
From 1993 to 1997, Albright served as the United States' permanent representative to the United Nations. In 1995 she led the U.S. delegation at the U.N.'s Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China.
She is the first Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.
Albright is chairman of the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs, chair of the Pew Global Attitudes Project and president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation.
Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, she came to America with her family after Communists took control of that country in 1948. She has written extensively on change in communist systems, particularly on the role of the media.
She is the mother of three daughters and has six grandchildren.
Purdue's College of Engineering is made up of 14 academic programs: aeronautics and astronautics, agricultural and biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, construction engineering and management, electrical and computer, engineering education, first-year engineering, industrial, interdisciplinary, materials, mechanical, and nuclear. More than 6,400 undergraduate students and nearly 2,500 graduate students are enrolled in Purdue engineering programs. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News and World Report magazine named Purdue the No. 8 undergraduate and graduate engineering program in the country, and many of Purdue's programs were ranked in the top 10 nationally.
Writer: Cynthia Sequin, (765) 494-4192, csequin@purdue.edu
Source: Linda Katehi, (765) 494-5346, katehi@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Madeleine Albright is available for photos from 5-5:15 p.m. March 2 on the staircase inside the main entrance of the Purdue Memorial Union.
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