Former secretary of state and two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will join the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs as a professor, the school announced Thursday.
Welcome Secretary @HillaryClinton to our community! The former secretary of state, U.S. senator, and First Lady will become a faculty member at @ColumbiaSIPA and @Columbia World Projects on February 1. Read the announcement from Dean Keren @YarhiMilo: https://t.co/4AxXVrEEc5 pic.twitter.com/hyqrTDLwq5
— Columbia | SIPA (@ColumbiaSIPA) January 5, 2023
Columbia President Lee Bollinger shared the news on Thursday, explaining that Clinton will join the school with a joint appointment at Columbia World Projects, which “mobilizes the university's researchers and scholars to work with governments, organizations, businesses and communities to tackle global challenges,” its website states.
“At SIPA, Secretary Clinton will work closely with Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo and other senior faculty and administrators on a variety of major initiatives, especially those focusing on global politics and policy and on supporting female leaders in those arenas,” Bollinger wrote. “In her role at Columbia World Projects, Secretary Clinton will work with Executive Vice President for Columbia Global and CWP Director Wafaa El-Sadr and CWP Deputy Director Ira Katznelson to support programming related to renewing democracy and advancing efforts for effective engagement of women and youth in this country and around the world.”
SIPA Dean Keren Yarhi-Milo wrote in a separate announcement that “she [Clinton] is a remarkable leader who has been on the front lines of virtually every critical challenge facing our world today — from the global fight to save democracy, her advocacy for women’s rights, and her staunch defense of marginalized people everywhere.”
Clinton served as secretary of state under former President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013 after she unsuccessfully ran for president in 2008. In 2016, Clinton ran for president a second time and lost to former President Donald Trump.
“With the world in flux, SIPA is intensifying our efforts to engage the leading local, national, and global academics and practitioners in developing timely, cutting-edge, and practical policy proposals,” Yarhi-Milo said in her announcement. “To that end, Secretary Clinton will help lead a major new SIPA effort to convene the best policy minds from around the world for robust debate and collaboration aimed at developing innovative policy solutions.”
Beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year, students will be able to learn from Clinton in the classroom. Clinton previously received an honorary degree from the university.