Berkley Center

Madeleine Albright is the Michael and Virginia Mortara Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University's Mortara Center for International Studies. She is also chair of Albright Stonebridge Group and Albright Capital Management, as well as a member of several boards related to policy and international affairs. During the Clinton administration, Albright first served as the US representative to the United Nations (1993-1997) and as the first female US secretary of state (1997-2001). As secretary of state Albright originally opposed the International Religious Freedom Act, arguing that it would create a hierarchy of human rights, but after leaving that office her position has evolved; she is the author of, among others, of The Mighty and the Albright: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006). President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

John J. DeGioia is the forty-eighth president of Georgetown University. For nearly four decades, DeGioia has worked to define and strengthen Georgetown University as a premier institution for education and research. As the first lay president of a Jesuit university he places emphasis on sustaining and strengthening Georgetown’s Catholic and Jesuit identity and its responsibility to serve as a voice and an instrument for justice. He has also been an advocate for interreligious dialogue. He continues to teach an Ignatius Seminar each fall, part of a program offering first year students the opportunity to encounter unique courses of study inspired by the Jesuit educational theme of cura personalis (“care for the whole person”). He is a member of the Order of Malta, a lay religious order of the Roman Catholic Church dedicated to serving the sick and the poor. Before becoming president, DeGioia served at Georgetown as senior vice president, responsible for university-wide operations, and dean of student affairs. DeGioia earned his B.A. and Ph.D at Georgetown University.