Susan Rice, Former White House and State Department Senior Official, Joins Brookings Institution

Editor’s note: In January 2009, Susan Rice was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Susan E. Rice, former assistant secretary of State for African affairs and former special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs with the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, joins the Brookings Institution on September 16.

She will serve as a senior fellow jointly affiliated with the Foreign Policy and Governance Studies programs, and as the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Endowed Fellow. Her initial projects at Brookings will involve transnational security threats, the security implications of globalization, and corporate social responsibility investments.

“As a scholar and a practitioner, Susan Rice has been at the forefront of addressing the new opportunities and threats facing America and the world in the twenty-first century,” said James Steinberg, vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies.

As assistant secretary of State, Dr. Rice formulated and implemented overall U.S. policy toward the forty-eight countries of sub-Saharan Africa, including political, economic, security, and humanitarian issues. During her government career, she also served as director of international organizations and peacekeeping at the National Security Council. Prior to her government service, Dr. Rice was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company.

In 2000, she was co-recipient of the National Security Council’s Samuel Nelson Drew Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to the formation of peaceful, cooperative relationships between nations, and U.S. security policy for global peace.

“I worked with Susan in government for eight years,” said Brookings President Strobe Talbott. “She was a standout in every respect: smart, committed, energetic, disciplined—with a powerful determination to tackle the big problems facing our nation and the world. I’m delighted at the prospect of having her as a colleague again at Brookings.”

Dr. Rice is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of the boards of directors of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the National Democratic Institute, and the Internews Corporation. She also serves on the advisory council of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.

A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Rice received her D.Phil (Ph.D.) and Masters degree in International Relations from New College, Oxford University, England. She received her B.A. in History with honors from Stanford University.

The Stephen and Barbara Friedman Endowed Fellowships were established by Brookings trustee Stephen Friedman and his wife, Barbara. A Trustee since 1990, Mr. Friedman has served as chairman of the executive and investment committees. He retired as chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co in 1994, and he is presently a senior principal at MMC Capital, Inc. (Marsh & McLennan).