Adviser to sec. of state visits JMU

Alumna Stevens addresses political life after Madison

By John Sutter, contributing writer
Posted on October 15, 2007

Alumna Pamela Stevens never expected to be flying on Air Force One with President Reagan a year after graduation.

“JMU gave me the foundation to walk through any door that interested me and it allowed me to meet every challenge presented,” she said.

A 1983 graduate, Stevens is now  adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rather than discussing the current state of foreign affairs in the United States, Stevens described her career and her life after JMU. 

Freshman Josh Collins was impressed with Stevens’ success.

“It was good to see how a graduate came back to show advancement in her career,” he said.  

When Stevens graduated JMU, she began work on the Reagan/Bush campaign through a connection with her father.  After working as a receptionist, she was contacted by the president’s advance office to apply for a job.  She moved to the White House, working as a trip planner for President Reagan.  

Stevens then worked for Larry King and Wolf Blitzer of CNN as a chief political producer and booker.  She said there were  constantly breaking news stories, including Monica Lewinsky scandal, OJ Simpson, Jean Bonnet and Sept. 11.  

Stevens said there was a hush over the newsroom at CNN on 9/11 and that you could see the personal burden of each person in the newsroom.

For the past two-and-half years she has been working for Rice.  In her current role, Stevens manages domestic and international media reports for Rice’s official diplomatic events involving foreign ministers and heads of state. 

Sophomore Patrick Haggerty said that the speech was not really what he was looking for but the question and answer session brought out good information. 

Since Stevens said she did not think she was here to discuss U.S. foreign policy, she did not answer questions regarding this issue very directly.  However, Stevens said that changing the U.S. perception is a long-term process that does not have any short-term solutions partly because the U.S. is currently involved in a war.  When asked a question about the balance between “the right to know” and keeping secrets, Stevens said she believes people have the right to know. 

When asked about bias in the media, she said that she does not work for CNN anymore so she can’t say exactly.  However, she did say that when she worked for CNN, she never felt like she was treated differently because she is a Republican.  She said  Blitzer and King were always, in her opinion, very fair to their guests. 

Since Stevens received a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from JMU, she was able to offer some advice to current JMU students. 

“Get as much experience as possible and meet as many different people as possible,” she said, “Any job I’ve ever gotten, I have gotten through someone I knew.” 

Senior Claire Whitley said the overall presentation was good and thought it appealed to the communication majors in the audience.  However, she expected the program to be more about foreign policy. 

Overall, Stevens said she has learned to believe in something outside herself.