September 12, 2018
Former Florida governor and 2016 presidential candidate Jeb (!) Bush was named a non-resident Presidential Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday for the upcoming academic year.
In his role, Bush will “engage with Penn faculty and students in multiple ways,” according to the university, including participating in classes, lectures, campus events, and even select major school functions. He'll be associated with the Andrea Mitchell Center for the Study of Democracy in the School of Arts and Sciences.
The university says he will be on campus one or two days each month.
In a statement Wednesday, Penn President Amy Gutmann called Bush “a man of exceptional character who has committed his life to public service and civic engagement.”
Bush issued a statement on Wednesday, in which he called Penn one of the finest academic institutions in America. (Both his father, President George H.W. Bush, and his brother, President George W. Bush, earned undergraduate degrees at Yale.)
“At a time when our politics and culture can be polarizing and coarse,” Bush said, “there is tremendous need to foster civil discourse on the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing our country.”
Bush was the governor of Florida from January 5, 1999 to January 2, 2007, coinciding with the presidential tenure of his brother.
It’s unclear how much Penn students will be expected to clap during the school year.
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