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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was privileged to present today (19 March) the Distinguished Lecture by Prof. Condoleezza Rice, Former US Secretary of State and Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, on ‘The Future of Asia’. The response was overwhelming: over a thousand CUHK staff and students, members of the political, business and academic sectors, and the public attended the lecture on the University campus. To encourage worldwide intellectual exchange, CUHK has arranged live webcast of the lecture on the University website (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/cpr/rice/).

From January 2005 to 2009, Professor Rice served as the 66th secretary of state of the United States, the second female holder of this position in the American history. Before serving as America’s chief diplomat, she served as assistant to the president for national security affairs (national security adviser) from January 2001 to 2005.

She joined the Stanford University faculty as a professor of political science in 1981 and served as Stanford University’s provost from 1993 to 1999. She was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1991 to 1993 and returned to the Hoover Institution after serving as provost until 2001. As a professor, Professor Rice won two of the 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.

She has authored and coauthored several books, including Germany Unified and Europe Transformed: A Study in Statecraft (1995), with Philip Zelikow, The Gorbachev Era (1986), with Alexander Dallin, and Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and the Czechoslovak Army (1984).

She currently serves as a member of the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In addition, she is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Rice earned her bachelor’s degree in political science, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her master’s from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981.

The lecture was broadcast live to local universities, and the Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks with the aim of extending its benefits and raising public awareness of the issues discussed. It was available on the Hong Kong Education City website for online viewing by secondary school students and teachers. There was also a live feed to major mainland universities.

CUHK has been dedicated to providing an international learning experience for its students. Since 2005, the University has initiated the Consuls General / diplomats lecture series. A number of famous diplomats, including the former US Ambassador to China, Consuls General of the USA, UK, Japan, France, Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Italy, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to PRC, and the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC in Hong Kong have delivered lectures on the CUHK campus.