Knox College Commencement

GALESBURG—Madeleine Albright, former United States Secretary of State, will deliver the commencement address during the college's exercises on June 7, 2008.

Albright, the first female secretary of state, was nominated by President Clinton on December 5, 1996. She served from 1997 until 2001, at the time the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government.

Knox College President Roger Taylor credits the Knox senior class with the vision to request this year's speaker. "Knox students have high ambitions and high expectations," Taylor explains. "They ask for speakers of high accomplishment, and Secretary Albright is an outstanding choice."

During her first year in office, Secretary Albright traveled to more than 60 countries around the world, representing the United States' interests. During her travels, she met with some of the world's most famous heads of state, including Russian President Yeltsin, South African President Mandela, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Palestinian Chairman Arafat. She is fluent in English, French and Czech and has good speaking and reading abilities in Russian and Polish.

Before rising to the chief diplomat's position, Secretary Albright served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and as a member of President Clinton's Cabinet, the second woman to receive the appointment.

Her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir, was published in 2003. In 2006, Secretary Albright published The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs. Her latest book, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership was published in January 2008.

Currently, Secretary Albright is the Mortara Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

As is tradition, Knox College also will award Secretary Albright an honorary degree. Secretary Albright is the only U.S. Secretary of State to have been awarded an honorary degree from Knox College. Other diplomats Knox has honored include William Benton, who served as Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from Connecticut; Joseph J. Sisco, who served as Undersecretary of State; George W. Ball, who served as Undersecretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; and Ismat Kittani, a Knox graduate and career diplomat, who rose to President of the United Nations General Assembly.

Recent Knox College commencement speakers have included Stephen Colbert, star of The Colbert Report, Senator Barack Obama, and President William Jefferson Clinton. The Knox College Commencement also launches the official "Year of Lincoln" in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates and the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth. Knox's "Old Main" is a National Historic Landmark and the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

Founded in 1837, Knox is a national liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,351 students from 44 states and 41 nations. Knox boasts a strong student body of diverse backgrounds. Two-thirds of Knox's entering class this year receive need-based financial aid and one-quarter are the first generation in their families to attend college. Sixty-seven percent graduated in the top quarter of their high school class, and 32 percent graduated in the top tenth.

Portrait By Timothy Greenfield-Sanders