Albright to Speak as Part of Distinguished Speakers Series

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Distinguished stateswoman Madeleine Albright -- the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state and the highest-ranking female in the history of American governance -- will speak at 8 p.m. Nov. 15 in Alumni Arena on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus as part of UB's 15th annual Distinguished Speakers Series.

UB and the Don Davis Auto World Lectureship Fund are presenting the 2001-02 series. UB's undergraduate Student Association is the series sponsor. The Division of Student Affairs will sponsor Albright's lecture.

Tickets are available for purchase at the Center for the Arts Box Office on UB's North Campus (open Tuesday through Friday, noon to 6 p.m.) and all TicketMaster locations. Special group rates are available (call 645-6147, ext. 228). Ticket prices range from $12 to $36.

The United States' 64th secretary of state, Albright is known for her insight, ingenuity and savvy -- tools with which she has been able to bridge the divides of race, nationality, religion and gender. Her reputation as one of the country's most distinguished statespersons was forged in such contested regions as Kosovo, the Middle East and East Timor.

A native of Czechoslovakia, Albright moved to the U.S. when it granted her family political asylum after her father, a Czech diplomat, was condemned to death in absentia by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. He went on to direct the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Colorado.

Albright received a bachelor's degree with honors in political science from Wellesley College and attended the School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University. She received a certificate from Columbia University's Russian Institute, and earned her master's and doctorate from Columbia's Department of Public Law and Government.

She is the former president of the Center for National Policy and taught in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. A fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she also served as a senior fellow in Soviet and Eastern European affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies analyzing developments in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

Prior to serving as secretary of state -- and President Bill Clinton's principal advisor on foreign policy -- Albright was the permanent U.S. representative to the United Nations.

Affiliate series sponsors of the Distinguished Speakers Series are the University Bookstores, WNED-TV and WBFO 88.7 FM, the National Public Radio affiliate operated by UB. Contributing series sponsors are the UB Alumni Association, UB Center for the Arts, Buffalo-Niagara Marriott, BAV Services and the Western New York Independent Living Project, Inc.