DENVER - Two former U.S. secretaries of state with connections to the University of Denver came to Denver Friday night for an awards dinner.
Madeleine Albright presented DU's 2010 Josef Korbel Outstanding Alumi Award to Condoleezza Rice at the Grand Hyatt.
But not everybody was excited to have Rice in town.
"Be careful of this area. There is a war criminal speaking inside," said Debra Brown, a protester outside the hotel.
Three protestors criticized Rice and her push for the Iraq War outside the venue.
"We have not forgotten the role she played in making our country known for torture and dragging us into a war we had no business fighting," said Brown.
But inside the awards dinner, it was a love fest for the accomplished alumna who got both her BA and doctorate at DU.
"She had a degree in International Studies. She went on used it and the school has honored her as outstanding alum because of what she' accomplished through the years," says DU spokesman Jim Berscheidt.
She served as President Bush's national security advisor, then his secretary of state.
Her foreign policy interest sparked in a classroom with professor Korbel.
"He opened up a world to me that a little black girl from Birminham, Alabama, never should have been interested in. But I was," said Rice.
Korbel is the father of former Secretary of State Albright--who handed Rice her award.
"If my father were here he would be bursting with pride," said Albright.
Albright was the nation's first female secretary of state. Rice the second.
Both remembered for their pivotal roles in history.
Both share a connection to the same man and school.
"I owe so much to Josef Korbel and I owe so much to this school," said Rice.
Also honored were: MillerCoors CEO Leo Kiely and his wife Rev. Susan Kiely; and J. Landis Martin, founder of Platte River Ventures.
The money that was raised at the dinner funded scholarships for students in the international studies program.
Madeleine Albright presented DU's 2010 Josef Korbel Outstanding Alumi Award to Condoleezza Rice at the Grand Hyatt.
But not everybody was excited to have Rice in town.
"Be careful of this area. There is a war criminal speaking inside," said Debra Brown, a protester outside the hotel.
Three protestors criticized Rice and her push for the Iraq War outside the venue.
"We have not forgotten the role she played in making our country known for torture and dragging us into a war we had no business fighting," said Brown.
But inside the awards dinner, it was a love fest for the accomplished alumna who got both her BA and doctorate at DU.
"She had a degree in International Studies. She went on used it and the school has honored her as outstanding alum because of what she' accomplished through the years," says DU spokesman Jim Berscheidt.
She served as President Bush's national security advisor, then his secretary of state.
Her foreign policy interest sparked in a classroom with professor Korbel.
"He opened up a world to me that a little black girl from Birminham, Alabama, never should have been interested in. But I was," said Rice.
Korbel is the father of former Secretary of State Albright--who handed Rice her award.
"If my father were here he would be bursting with pride," said Albright.
Albright was the nation's first female secretary of state. Rice the second.
Both remembered for their pivotal roles in history.
Both share a connection to the same man and school.
"I owe so much to Josef Korbel and I owe so much to this school," said Rice.
Also honored were: MillerCoors CEO Leo Kiely and his wife Rev. Susan Kiely; and J. Landis Martin, founder of Platte River Ventures.
The money that was raised at the dinner funded scholarships for students in the international studies program.
