Alums chosen to lead Obama agencies: Napolitano

By Tom Sullivan

Before last December, Janet Napolitano said she considered one of her greatest accomplishments to be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Her recent nomination for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security could be challenging that feat as her top accomplishment.

Arizona Governor and Santa Clara alumna Napolitano was named to President-elect Barack Obama's national security team as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 20.

At a press conference in her home state of Arizona Dec. 2, Napolitano addressed her nomination to this position. She said she is "humbled and honored by" the choice.

"I am proud to accept it," Napolitano said in a statement. "I believe that when called upon to serve -- particularly at such a critical time in the history of our country -- it is my duty as a citizen to step forward and say 'Yes.'"

Pending the authorization of the United States Senate, Napolitano would be the first woman in that post, which was created by President George W. Bush and Congress after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Napolitano, 51, is accustomed to being a groundbreaker: She was Santa Clara's first female valedictorian, Arizona's first female attorney general and the first woman to chair the National Governors Association.

"Her valedictorian address was about the importance of changing rules," said Janet Flammang, political science chair and Napolitano's professor. "But as much as she wants change, it always must be evidence-based, deliberate and thoughtful."

Napolitano credits many of her success to educational experiences at Santa Clara, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree, and the University of Virginia, where she attended law school.

When asked how she got from Swig Hall to the office of Homeland Security, Napolitano joked that her first move was from Swig to Campisi Hall.

Napolitano, a political science major, was an active member of her 1979 class.

She received the prestigious Truman Scholarship in 1977 for her work in public service.

"I think I took a sense of knowledge in a whole lot of areas with help from an excellent faculty," Napolitano said, "I got a sense of community and place, and I think that is something I was able to act on."

Junior Chris Woodhouse interned for Napolitano in Arizona a year and a half ago. He said she was a good manager.

"She's a politician known for being pragmatic, and less ideological then focusing on getting things done," he said. "A lot of us in her office thought that she would get to the national level of government. She ran her office very business like. She had a job to get done, and she took issue with the things she needed to."

Since leaving Santa Clara, Napolitano has spoken on campus on several occasions. She was the keynote speaker for the 2003 graduation ceremonies and gave a talk in April about issues involving immigration.

In her new position, Napolitano will lead a department with more than two dozen offices and agencies with multiple missions, including safeguarding the U.S. from terrorists, overseeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and heading national disaster and hazard response and preparedness through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

One of Napolitano's key duties at Homeland Security will be border protection, an issue with which she is acutely familiar as a governor in a key border state with Mexico.

Napolitano was named one of America's top five governors by Time Magazine in 2005.

She has said she will stay on as governor until confirmed by the Senate, then turn the Arizona governor's office over to Republican Secretary of State Jan Brewer.

Contact Tom Sullivan at tsullivan@scu.edu.