Consider diplomacy, Rice tells black students p1 - Military - Career Choices - Military Times EDGE

The State Department needs more black diplomats to reflect the ethnic makeup of the U.S., Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a gathering of leaders of historically black colleges in September.

“I want to see a Foreign Service that looks as if black Americans are part of this great country,” Rice said. “I have lamented that I can go into a meeting at the Department of State — as a matter of fact, I can go into a whole day of meetings at the Department of State — and rarely see somebody who looks like me."

The department will hire 400 new foreign service workers next year, Rice told the group.

Rice is the first black woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state. While she did not attend historically black schools, Rice said they played a pivotal role in her family history. Some of her family members attended Miles College near Birmingham, Ala.; Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C.; and Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

(Originally published Sept. 29, 2008.),