Condoleezza Rice - The Early Years

Condoleezza was born an only child in Nov of 1954. Her parent's, John Wesly Jr and Angelina Ray Rice, he a Presbyterian minister, her mother was a teacher. Condoleezza's childhood was surrounded by the turbulent times of the 1960's. She was forced to use a storage room for a dressing room, wasn't allowed to go to the circus or amusement parks, not by her parents, but by the managers of those establishments. She was also given bad food when she'd go out to eat, she recalls.

As she was growing up, her father instilled in her and his student's, that they would need to work twice as hard for advancement, and to meet the white society on it's own terms by being twice as good. While the Rice family agreed with the civil Rights goals, they did not want to put their daughter in harms way.

Education

At the age of 3, Condoleezza was already learning foreign languages that would help her in later life. At 15, she wanted to be a concert pianist however her plans changed when she seen she couldn't make on that alone.

After arriving in Denver of 1967, Condi went to the all-girls school: St Mary's Academy . She then took a class in international politics which was taught by the father of the future Secretary of State, Madeline Albright. This sparked her interest in the Soviet Union.

She grad from there in 1970, and at 19 got her BA in political from the University of Denver, and her masters from Notre Dame. She was in the Carter administration during 1977 as an intern for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 1981, when Condoleezza was 26, she got her Ph.D.. in political science.

Academic Career

Condi was Assistant professor of Stanford university from 1981 to 1987, when she was promoted to Associate professor. She had that until 1993. In 1992, while at Stanford she volunteered to be the searching team to find a replacement for out-going president Donald Kennedy. The team decided on Gerhard Casper from the university of Chicago. He in turn, was so impressed with her that he appointed her as provost of Stanford from 1993 to 1999. Condoleezza was the first women, the first minority and the youngest provost in the history of Stanford University.

At the time of Condi's post, Stanford was running nearly $20 million in deficit. Two year's later, Stanford was in a surplus of $14 million. She started her political career in 1986....and the rest they say, is history.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/rice-bio.html