Napolitano, Janet
Ann,, 1957 - , American politican and university
administrator, b. New York, N.Y., Santa Clara (Ca.) Univ. (B.A., 1979);
Univ. of Virginia Law School (J.D., 1983). After completing her legal
studies, Napolitano clerked for Judge Mary M. Schroeder of the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and then entered private practice. She served
as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona (1993-98) and then was elected
Arizona's Attorney General (1998-02) and its governor (2002-09), becoming
the first female to be elected to a second term. She established a record by
vetoing over 115 bills passed by the Republican legislature, and also
championed the state's establishment of full-day kindergarten and other
educational initiatives. President Barack Obama nominated her as his Secretary of
Homeland Security; she was the first woman to serve in that role (2009-13),
creating the "DREAM Act" that allowed for the children of illegal immigrants
to the U.S. to remain in this country. She left her position to serve as
president of the Univ. of California (2013-20), was elected to the American
Philosophical Society (2018), and currently teaches at the Univ. of Calif.,
Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy (2020- ).
See her How Safe Are We?: Homeland Security Since 9/11
(2019).
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