U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet
Napolitano has been nominated for appointment as the 20th president of
the University of California, it was announced today.
Regent Sherry Lansing, chair of a 10-member special search committee,
said Napolitano rose to the top from a large field of candidates and
was recommended on a unanimous vote.
Janet Napolitano
The full Board of Regents will act on the recommendation Thursday,
July 18, during a special meeting following the board’s regular
bimonthly meeting in San Francisco.
“Secretary Napolitano is a distinguished and dedicated public servant
who has earned trust at the highest, most critical levels of our
country’s government,” Lansing said in a statement. “She has proven
herself to be a dynamic, hard-working and transformative leader.
“As governor of Arizona, she was an effective advocate for public
education, and a champion for the life-changing opportunities that
education provides…Those who know her best say that a passion for
education is in her DNA.”
She added: “As Secretary of Homeland Security, she has been an ardent
advocate for the federal Dream Act and the architect of a policy that
protects from deportation young undocumented immigrants who are pursuing
a college education.”
Board Chair Bruce Varner, who served as vice chair of the search
committee, noted in a separate statement: “Throughout her noteworthy
career, Secretary Napolitano has built a track record for taking on and
tackling the toughest of challenges. She has a reputation for seeing
things through, no matter how difficult the effort.
“She has the intellectual curiosity, leadership qualities, personal
charm and discipline needed to navigate any future challenges that await
this university.
“I anticipate learning much from Secretary Napolitano, given her experience leading large, complex organizations.”
Robert Powell, chair of UC’s systemwide Academic Senate and a faculty
representative on the Board of Regents, praised the choice: "In my
discussions with her, Secretary Napolitano clearly articulated the view
that the University of California must do all it can to ensure not only
that it remains the greatest public university in the world in the 21st
century, but also that it moves to new heights.
"She has deep respect for the faculty, and she will listen to what we
say. She knows that, as the core of what makes UC great, the faculty
must have an environment in which they can thrive as scholars and
teachers.”
If the regents approve the appointment, Napolitano would become the
first woman in the university’s 145-year history to serve as president.
She would succeed Mark G. Yudof, who announced in January that he would
step down at the end of August after serving for more than five years.
As the twice-elected governor of Arizona, serving from 2003 to 2009,
Napolitano was a consistent champion of public education, protecting
funding of the state’s universities even as she addressed a $1 billion
deficit upon assuming office. By 2006, she had turned the deficit into a
$300 million surplus without raising taxes.
Chosen by President Barack Obama to serve as the third Secretary of
Homeland Security, Napolitano leads a complex array of efforts to
safeguard the nation – counterterrorism, border security, immigration
enforcement, cybersecurity and disaster preparedness, response and
recovery. Homeland Security is the third largest federal department,
with a budget of $60 billion, 240,000 employees and 22 agencies and
directorates, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard and Secret
Service.
“I am both honored and excited by the prospect of serving as president of the University of California,” said Napolitano.
“I recognize that I am a non-traditional candidate,” she added. “In
my experience, whether preparing to govern a state or to lead an agency
as critical and complex as Homeland Security, I have found the best way
to start is simply to listen.
“If appointed, I intend to reach out and listen to chancellors, to
faculty, to students, to the state’s political leaders, to regents, to
the heads of the other public higher education systems and, of course,
to President Yudof and his team, who have done so much to steer the
University of California through some extremely rough waters.”
As UC president, she would lead a system of 10 campuses, five medical
centers, three affiliated national laboratories and a statewide
agriculture and natural resources program. The UC system has more than
234,000 students, about 208,000 faculty and staff, more than 1.6 million
living alumni and an annual operating budget of more than $24 billion.
Napolitano, 55, was born in New York City and grew up in Pittsburgh,
Pa., and Albuquerque, N.M., before coming to California for her college
education. She was graduated from Santa Clara University with a
bachelor’s degree in political science. She was selected as the
university’s first female valedictorian, and also won a Truman
Scholarship, a prestigious fellowship for college students who possess
leadership potential and an interest in government or public service.
After earning her law degree from the University of Virginia, she
went to Arizona in 1983 to serve as a clerk for Judge Mary M. Schroeder
of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and later practiced
law in Phoenix at the firm of Lewis and Roca, where she became a partner
in 1989. She was the first female Attorney General of Arizona, from
1998 to 2003, and served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona
from 1993 to 1997.
Napolitano was named one of the top five governors in the country by
Time magazine. As the first woman to chair the National Governors
Association, she launched the “Innovation America” initiative to align
K-12 and higher education curricula to better prepare students for a
global economy and strengthen the nation’s competitiveness by improving
its capacity to innovate.
At the Department of Homeland Security, she has championed
cutting-edge research and development, investing more than $2.2 billion
in state-of-the-art solutions at national labs and universities across
the country to protect people and critical infrastructure.
Under her leadership, Homeland Security also has strengthened its
outreach efforts to academic institutions through the establishment of
the Office of Academic Engagement, and she created the Homeland Security
Academic Advisory Council, involving leadership from more than 20
universities and colleges around the country.
She has repeatedly testified about the need for comprehensive
immigration reform and, earlier this year, she served as the
Administration's sole witness in the Senate Judiciary Committee's
hearing on the Senate's comprehensive immigration reform bill. She also
testified before the Senate in support of the Dream Act and defended
the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process in a hearing before
the House Judiciary Committee.
The Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President,
assisted by the national executive search firm Issacson, Miller, was
involved in recruiting, screening and interviewing candidates. More than
300 possible candidates were considered.
In addition to Varner and Lansing, the immediate past Board of
Regents chair, the committee members were Regents Richard Blum, Russell
S. Gould, George Kieffer, Bonnie Reiss, and Fred Ruiz. Jonathan Stein
(the student regent) and Ronald Rubenstein (the alumni regent) also
served on the committee. Gov. Jerry Brown was an ex officio member. An
Academic Advisory Committee was appointed to assist the regents' Special
Committee. Student, staff and alumni advisory committees joined the
Academic Advisory Committee in making recommendations on selection
criteria.
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