Pelosi to teach at new UC Berkeley democracy institute

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will be teaching at a new nonpartisan democracy institute established in her honor at the University of California, Berkeley, after retiring from a 39-year stint in Congress. 

Pelosi is set to co-teach a class on Congress and has already helped raise $35 million for the venture as a step toward meeting the institute’s $50 million fundraising goal, according to a Monday announcement from the university. 

“The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling. UC Berkeley has a long, proud history of challenging the status quo and producing leaders who run toward the greatest challenges of our time,” Pelosi, who made history in 2007 as the first woman to be elected Speaker, said in a statement. 

“I am honored to partner with this exceptional community of scholars and students so we can equip the next generation with the tools they need to strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good,” she added. 

Those who participate in the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy, or NPI, will receive a certificate in public leadership upon completion. 

The institute is intended to be a hub for research, teaching and civic engagement rooted in a shared commitment to advancing the public good, per the university announcement.

“The purpose and impact of the NPI will be defined and strengthened by Berkeley’s ability to bring together world-class faculty and extraordinary students and by our commitment, as the country’s preeminent public university, to advancing the greater good,” Rich Lyons, the university’s chancellor, said in a statement. 

“We intend to do more than simply study democracy; we are building this institute to strengthen it,” he added. 

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