Jeb Bush and Janet Napolitano to deliver 11th annual Chancellor’s Speaker Series

Jeb Bush, 43rd governor of Florida and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, and Janet Napolitano, professor of public policy and director of the new Center for Security in Politics at University of California, Berkeley, will deliver the 11th annual Chancellor’s Speaker Series presentation, which is part of the annual UNC Charlotte Civic Series.

“The Future of Higher Education” will be at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 22, in Cone University Center, McKnight Hall. Student Body President Dick Beekman will moderate the discussion. Students, faculty and staff should register for the event.

During Bush’s two terms as governor from 1999 through 2007, Florida established a bold accountability system for public schools and created the most ambitious school choice program in the United States.

Bush currently serves as chairman of Dock Square Capital LLC, a merchant bank headquartered in Miami. He joined the University of Pennsylvania as a non-resident Presidential Professor of Practice for the 2018-19 academic year and previously served as a visiting professor and fellow at Harvard University, an executive professor at Texas A&M University and has been awarded several honorary doctorates. He maintains his passion for improving the quality of education for students across the country, serving as chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, a national nonprofit education reform organization he founded to transform education in America.

A distinguished public servant, Napolitano served as the president of the University of California (UC) from 2013-20, as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security from 2009-13, as governor of Arizona from 2003-09, as attorney general of Arizona from 1998 to 2003 and as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona from 1993-97.

As UC president, she was a steadfast advocate for California students, working to stabilize in-state tuition and to enroll historic numbers of California undergraduates. In 2017, under Napolitano’s leadership, the University of California was the first in the country to file a lawsuit to stop the federal government’s rescission of the DACA program. She is the recipient of nine honorary degrees as well as the Jefferson Medal from the University of Virginia.

The UNC Charlotte Civic Series includes three marquee lectures: the Chancellor’s Speaker Series, the Barnhardt Seminar on Ethics and the TIAA Lecture; the series brings nationally recognized speakers to the University and greater Charlotte communities for thought-provoking conversations.