Former Secretary of State Albright Touts Global Studies at UWM
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright answers questions from global
studies students during a visit to UWM.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Tuesday joined Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago, UWM global studies students, Gov. Jim Doyle and Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton at the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) campus.
Albright, who today is a professor at Georgetown University, met with students in UWM’s global studies program. She congratulated Santiago and UWM for fostering the global education needed to train leaders who can navigate the multifaceted new economy and the policy issues it presents.
“The UWM program is in alignment with what’s important in terms of a wider scope of education,” she said. “UWM has moved to the forefront of the UW System [in this area].”
UWM’s Bachelor’s Degree in Global Studies (BAGS) is one of the few degree programs of its kind in the nation.
Though other global studies degrees exist, UWM’s is the only program that combines disciplines in the College of Letters and Science with preprofessional studies. The program’s five “tracks” bring together liberal arts with business (Global Management), architecture (Global Cities), education (Global Classrooms), communication (Global Communications) and health sciences (Global Security). It requires eight semesters of foreign language study, a semester abroad and an international internship.
Students at Tuesday’s event questioned Albright about global policy involving China, Iraq, India, Europe and Africa.
“Today’s economy is becoming increasingly global and you have an important role to play,” Albright told them. “It’s not an easy time to understand.”
She also stressed a need for cultural diplomacy to help make a difference in the world.
“We don’t ever want the United States to be feared where we should be respected,” she said.
Albright served as secretary of state under Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001, becoming the first woman to hold that post and the highest-ranking woman in U.S. history at that time.
She has been on the UWM campus once before – in the 1980s as part of a UW System Board of Regents event. Speaking about her time in the Clinton administration, she commented that she was proud and surprised to serve as the last secretary of state in the 20th century and the first secretary of state in the 21st.
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