FHU Benefit Dinner Tickets Still Available

Sponsorships and general admission tickets to the annual benefit dinner at Freed-Hardeman University are still available, according to the university’s advancement office. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will speak at the dinner Dec. 7 in Loyd Auditorium to raise funds for student scholarships. The event, typically Tennessee’s largest one-night fundraiser, has already surpassed its $1.4 million goal, organizers said.

Rice served as the 66th secretary of state for the United States from 2005-2009. She was the second woman and the first African-American woman to hold the post. Prior to that appointment, she served as President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, the first woman to hold that position. She had also served on President George H.W. Bush’s National Security Council staff.

Rice delivered a widely acclaimed keynote address last summer at the Republican National Convention.

Currently, Rice is the Denning Professor in Global Business and the Economy at the Graduate School of Business; the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution; and a professor of Political Science, all at Stanford University. She is also a founding partner of Rice Hadley Gates, a business advisory firm working with companies seeking to expand into emerging markets.

Rice also serves on the boards of a number of organizations ranging from an energy software company to the San Francisco Symphony. She has authored and co-authored a number of books including “Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family” which became a bestseller in 2010. Her most recent book, “No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington,” was released last year.

In addition to the keynote address, Rice will speak with 50 of Freed-Hardeman’s top students Friday afternoon.

The Secret Sisters, a duo comprised of real-life sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers, from Muscle Shoals, Ala., will provide musical entertainment for the evening. In 2010, the duo released the self-titled album “The Secret Sisters,” featuring a cover of “Why Baby Why” and the original “Tennessee Me.” Classic recording equipment was used to capture the sisters’ pure sound; the vintage microphones and recording techniques were the same as production teams used fifty years ago. The Secret Sisters’ song “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder” appears on the much-hyped 2012 “Hunger Games” movie soundtrack, entitled “The Hunger Games: Songs from District Twelve and Beyond.” They are currently working on their second album.

Sponsorships for the Benefit Dinner beginning at $600 for the silver level are available from the FHU development office. General admission tickets are $150. All tickets include the dinner and the address by Rice. Sponsorships come with additional perks.

Former dinner speakers have included presidents, star athletes and entertainers. Both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have spoken at the event.

For additional information regarding sponsorships and tickets, call 731-989-6017 or 1-800-FHU-FHU1. Tickets may be purchased at fhu.edu/rice. All profits from the dinner are used to fund student scholarships at FHU.