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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