When he considered what would come next after his historic tenure at the helm of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Speaker Robert A. DeLeo soon focused on one idea: returning to his alma mater.
The 70-year-old Winthrop Democrat, who graduated from Northeastern in 1972, has been appointed University Fellow for Public Life. In his new role, he will be teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students on public policy matters, urban affairs, and legislation. “To me, it’s like coming home,” says DeLeo of his new post. “It just seemed like a natural fit.”
At the College of Professional Studies, DeLeo will be teaching undergraduate and graduate students about what it takes to get legislation and policy passed.
“Hopefully what I’ll bring to them, if you count my work in local government, is 40 years of experience in how things get done. How things become law,” says DeLeo.
In the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, he’ll also teach and mentor students in the undergraduate and master’s programs of the Political Science Department and the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, including the Law and Policy minor. In addition, he will be collaborating with the director of the Kitty & Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy on public programs, such as the Myra Kraft Open Classroom series.
