Condoleezza Rice to receive Ambassador of Hope Award Oct. 26

Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009, will be honored at the Ambassador of Hope Gala on Oct. 26 at Qwest Center Omaha.

Hosted by the Friends of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, the gala is held every two years. In 2008, the event raised more than $1.1 million to support cancer research at the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center.

Condoleezza Rice

“We’re extremely honored to have Condoleezza Rice headline our event,” said Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center. “She has been a strong advocate for breast cancer research and screenings and has done much to raise the public’s awareness of cancer.”

Dr. Rice was 15 when her mother, Angelena, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She died in 1985.

While in Omaha, Dr. Rice will continue the national tour of her memoir, “Extraordinary Ordinary People,” which will be released in October. Prior to the gala, she will do an afternoon book signing at The Bookworm in Countryside Village.

That night, she’ll receive the Ambassador of Hope Award, which is given to individuals who have made significant contributions in the fight against cancer through research, patient care activities or by raising public awareness of cancer. Only five others have received the award: Robin Roberts, Tom Brokaw, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, Sam Donaldson and Chuck Durham.

Sponsors and tickets Howard and Rhonda Hawks are honorary chairs of this year’s event. Event co-chairs are Lisa Mellen and Angie Miller. Tickets for this year’s Ambassador of Hope Gala are $150 per person. Table sponsorships range from $1,500 to $10,000. For more information, call 559-4179, or go to www.nebraskahope.org.

A native of Birmingham, Ala., Dr. Rice is a professor of political science at Stanford University and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution.

As Secretary of State, she worked to engage America’s global partners to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that would respond to the needs of their people. Before she was Secretary of State, Rice was National Security adviser to then President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.

She also has participated in a number of humanitarian pursuits, most notably with PEPFAR (The President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief) and in creating and serving on the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Both endeavors increased aid to developing countries and the world’s poorest, most disadvantaged populations.