Condoleezza Rice is an American political scientist and diplomat. She served as the
66th United States Secretary of State, and was the second person to hold that office in the administration of
President George W. Bush. Rice was the first female African-American secretary of state, as well as the
second African American, and the
second woman. Rice was President Bush's
National Security Advisor during his first term, making her the first woman to serve in that position. Before joining the
Bush administration, she was a professor of
political science at
Stanford University where she served as
Provost from 1993 to 1999. Rice also served on the
National Security Council as the
Soviet and
East European Affairs Advisor to President
George H.W. Bush during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union and
German reunification.