Cambridge, MA – Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has named former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor Susan E. Rice a non-resident Senior Fellow. In the Obama administration, Rice played a critical role in achieving the deal that prevented Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, containing the Ebola crisis, sanctioning Russia for its violations in Ukraine, and defending democracy and human rights around the world. At the Belfer Center, Rice will apply her extensive experience to contribute to an array of foreign policy and national security issues.

“From confronting aggressors to defending vulnerable populations, Susan embodies our commitment to a safer and more peaceful world,” said Belfer Center Director Ash Carter. “She has worked unstintingly for America’s vital interests and values, and I’m looking forward to her engagement here on some of the most pressing challenges of our time. I know personally from our years of working together that her incisiveness, wit, and sparkling mind will enrich this Center.”

“I am pleased to be joining the Belfer Center at this critical time for American leadership,” said Ambassador Rice. “The Center has brought together an outstanding array of experts that make it worthy of its reputation as a premiere international affairs research center, and I look forward to supporting the Center’s efforts to analyze and address today’s most important global issues.”

Rice served as U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013, and as National Security Advisor from 2013 to 2017. She earlier served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 1997 to 2001. In that role, she formulated and implemented U.S. policy toward 48 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and oversaw the management of 43 U.S. embassies and more than 5,000 U.S. and Foreign Service national employees. Rice was co-recipient of the White House’s 2000 Samuel Nelson Drew Memorial Award for distinguished contributions to the formation of peaceful, cooperative relationships between states. From 1993-1997, she served as Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, as well as Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping on the National Security Council staff.

Outside government, Rice was from 2002 to 2008 a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she conducted research and published widely on U.S. foreign policy, transnational security threats, weak states, global poverty, and development. She began her career as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in Toronto, Canada. She has served on numerous boards, including the Bureau of National Affairs, National Democratic Institute and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

Rice received her Master’s degree (M.Phil.) and Ph.D (D.Phil.) in International Relations from New College, Oxford University, England, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. She was awarded the Chatham House-British International Studies Association Prize for the most distinguished doctoral dissertation in the United Kingdom in the field of International Relations in 1990. Ambassador Rice received her B.A. in History with honors from Stanford University in 1986, where she was awarded junior Phi Beta Kappa and was a Truman Scholar. In 2017, French President Francois Hollande presented Ambassador Rice with the Award of Commander, the Legion of Honor of France, for her contributions to Franco-American relations.

A native of Washington DC, Ambassador Rice is married to Ian Cameron, and they have two children.

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