After nearly four decades in Congress, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is planning her next act.
The San Francisco congresswoman announced Monday that following her departure from Congress next year, she will launch the Nancy Pelosi Institute (NPI) for Representative Democracy with the University of California Berkeley. The non-partisan academic institute will focus on research and civic engagement aimed at strengthening democracy at the research university.
"The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling," Pelosi said in a statement announcing the partnership.
"UC Berkeley has a long, proud history of challenging the status quo and producing leaders who run toward the greatest challenges of our time,” she continued. “I am honored to partner with this exceptional community of scholars and students so we can equip the next generation with the tools they need to strengthen our democratic institutions and forge a future that serves the public good."
The institute, according to the university, will focus on developing and advancing solutions to strengthen America’s democratic institutions, promoting human and civil rights, and expanding the spectrum of perspective and backgrounds in political leadership. A release announcing the NPI also teased a visiting fellows program that “will bring high-profile national and world leaders for a semester at UC Berkeley.”
But Pelosi’s involvement in the NPI is not just in namesake: in the new year, she will co-teach a course on Congress with Professor Eric Schickler.
“Speaker Pelosi’s career has shaped the course of our state and nation in profound ways,” Schickler said. “This institute will carry forward her legacy by facilitating dialogue, conducting research for the public good and preparing the next generation of leaders to strengthen democracy. Never have these tasks been as important as they are today.”
So far, the NPI has secured more than $32 million in financial commitments, more than half of the $50 million goal that Pelosi and UC Berkeley hope to raise by the end of the year. The NPI is set to launch in January 2027, and will include faculty research initiatives, new undergraduate curriculum and an annual nonpartisan thought leadership summit.
Rich Lyons, chancellor of UC Berkeley, said that the NPI "aligns perfectly” with the university’s “commitment to fostering civil discourse, advancing democracy, and preparing our students to lead with integrity on the global stage."
"The purpose and impact of the NPI will be defined and strengthened by Berkeley’s ability to bring together world-class faculty and extraordinary students, and by our commitment, as the country’s preeminent public university, to advancing the greater good,” Lyons said. “We intend to do more than simply study democracy; we are building this institute to strengthen it."
Pelosi has had a long history with UC Berkeley, including delivering the university’s commencement address in 2014. She spoke with students again in 2022, warning about “the assault on our democracy.”
It was a warning Pelosi has often given in recent years — and despite not being on the ballot this fall, she is hoping to help flip the House again one last time before she leaves Congress. Back in February Pelosi told Spectrum News in an exclusive interview that “once you’re in the arena, you’re always in the arena,” and that despite her retirement, she wasn’t entirely prepared to leave politics behind.
“I want to spend a lot of time on the increased participation of women in the electoral process. There is nothing, in my view, more wholesome than that,” she said at the time.
And even though it remains years away, she already had her sights on the 2028 presidential election.
“We'll have to win the White House, and there'll be a primary election for all of that,” Pelosi said. “While I won't have power, I will have influence, and it's really important that we win the House and the Senate and White House, we'll win it all next time, that's for sure. But again, it'll be a question of who it is.”
Pelosi will serve her congressional district through January 3, 2027, when the new Congress is sworn in.