Condoleezza Rice, the 66th U.S. Secretary of State, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a Notre Dame alumna, will participate in a “fireside chat” with University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., at 4 p.m. Friday (Oct. 11) as part of the 2024-25 Notre Dame Forum.

The conversation, titled “The Perils of U.S. Isolationism,” will take place in the Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center and will also be livestreamed. The event is free, but ticketed, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning one hour beforehand.

Rice will discuss challenges faced by the United States and the global community in a post-pandemic world — from the rise of authoritarianism and military expressionism by China and Russia to the declining resolve and effectiveness of international institutions and long-term alliances threatened by ongoing conflicts.

Rice will reflect on the path forward for our nation and the world as part of the exploration of this year’s Notre Dame Forum theme, “What Do We Owe Each Other?”

In a recent Foreign Affairs article, Rice outlined the perils of choosing isolationism for both the United States and the global order and described how to best build an effective internationalist foreign policy to meet the challenges of the current moment.

Rice, who earned a master’s degree in government and international studies from Notre Dame in 1975, served on the University’s Board of Trustees from 1994 until 2001 when she was appointed national security adviser by President George W. Bush. She was the first woman to hold the position. In 2005, she became the second woman and first Black woman to serve as secretary of state and remained in that role throughout Bush’s second term in office.

Before serving on the University’s Board, Rice was a member of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters advisory council. In 1995, she received an honorary doctor of laws degree and was the principal speaker at Notre Dame’s Commencement Ceremony. She joined Bush on the platform during the University’s 2001 Commencement, when the president received an honorary degree and delivered the principal address.

Rice earned her bachelor’s degree and doctoral degree in political science at the University of Denver. In addition to directing the Hoover Institution, she is a professor of political science and a senior fellow on public policy at Stanford University, as well as the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She served as provost of Stanford for six years in the 1990s. In addition, she is a founding partner of Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, an international strategic consulting firm.

Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-993-9220 or c.gates@nd.edu