Condoleeza Rice

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to speak in Fayetteville on the University of Arkansas campus in 2014.

Rice will be the spring speaker in the Distinguished Lecture Series on March 5.

The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are needed to attend the event, which begins at 7 p.m. in Barnhill Arena.

“The Distinguished Lecture Committee has been working for several years to bring Dr. Rice to campus,” said Tyler Priest, co-chair of the committee. “Students have told us consistently that she is at the top of the list of people they want to speak here. We’re very excited that this is going to happen.”

Rice, who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush, is a native of Birmingham, Alabama. In 1993, she became Stanford University’s provost and was the institution’s chief budget and academic officer for six years. From January 2005-2009, 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 Bush’s assistant to the president for National Security Affairs (National Security Advisor) from January 2001-2005, the first woman to hold the position.

Rice returned to teach at Stanford University in 2009, where she is a professor of political science and also the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy in the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The Distinguished Lecture Series is a student-funded program. Speakers are chosen by a committee of students, faculty and staff, and the events are funded by a student-approved fee, appropriated by the Programs Allocation Board.