Jennifer Granholm and Daniel Mulhern, heading for California.
Critics, Supporters Weighing Outcome of 8 Years of Granholm on Michigan
Ex-Governor Granholm to Teach at U-C Berkeley, Appear on Meet The Press
January 30, 2011
By: Dave Rogers
It's goodbye Lansing, hello California for former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and husband Daniel Mulhern.
Some of her critics in Michigan had quipped privately that she had "gone Hollywood" long ago, anyway.
The University of California, Berkeley, announced that the pair will teach interdisciplinary courses on energy, leadership, state budgets and the economy at UC Berkeley's schools of law, business and public policy.
She will also appear as a regular contributor on a prestigious Sunday nationwide television show, "Meet The Press with David Gregory."
Granholm, a Democrat, recently completed two terms as Michigan's first woman governor, leading the state through a brutal economic downturn resulting from a meltdown in the automotive and manufacturing sector.
Granholm was a familiar sight in Bay County during her first campaign in 2001-2002, but appearances here were rare thereafter. She drew heavy criticism for hasty judicial appointments that ruffled feathers in legal communities in several mid-Michigan counties last year.
Critics have charged that she was not focused and failed to connect with legislative leaders sufficiently to turn around a failing economy.
Some Lansing insiders sniped that her husband, "First Gentleman" Daniel Mulhern, was the real force in the governor's office and that she made few decisions without checking with him.
Other political observers, this corner included, feel she did a remarkable job under extremely difficult circumstances and facing unprecedented economic stresses. Left with a fiscal structure gutted by anti-tax former Gov. John Engler and Republican legislators, she made tough cuts and pared state employee rolls. In numerous trips abroad, she met foreign business and government officials and was able to secure jobs.
She reportedly had sought appointment to a federal post in the Obama Administration and was familiar on the Washington scene, but such a job never materialized. Washington pundits felt her best chance was for Secretary of Labor, but the job went to an appointee considered by some to be "tougher," five term Member of Congress Hilda Solis, a Hispanic from California.
According to the U-C news release, "Granholm diversified the state"s economy, helped to strengthen its auto industry, and added new sectors such as clean energy to its economic portfolio.
"Part of the governor's economic strategy was to help guide Michigan's transformation from 'rustbelt to greenbelt.'"
"We are simply delighted that a governor of this caliber and expertise with such a strong legacy has agreed to teach here," said Berkeley Law Dean Christopher Edley.
"We teach our students how to apply their studies to solve the most intractable real world problems. Governor Granholm is a role model in this arena. She's a distinguished policy expert who's charted a new course for Michigan through hard work and innovation."
The former governor will teach several courses and work closely with UC Berkeley's think tanks on public policy, law, business and the environment. At the Goldman School of Public Policy this spring, she will teach about state budgets, clean energy jobs, diversifying the economy, and leadership; in the fall, she will add a course on state budgeting and governing in times of fiscal crisis.
Ms. Granholm is scheduled to speak in the U-C campus's Chevron Auditorium on March 2 at 6 p.m. on "Cracking the Code: Creating Jobs in America (in the wake of globalization)."
"In these times of tough budget choices and increasing demands on government to solve problems, no one is better equipped to teach about leadership and policy-making than Governor Granholm," said Henry Brady, dean of the Goldman School.
"We are thrilled to have her at the Goldman School of Public Policy to continue our tradition of teaching students how to face tough problems directly, analytically and imaginatively."
"Having Jennifer and Dan at Berkeley is a thrill for our community," added Rich Lyons, dean of the Haas School. "The fit is perfect."
Granholm, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1984 with B.A. in both political science and French and from Harvard Law School in 1987, said she is delighted to be returning to her alma mater. "It's a terrific opportunity to offer students an insider's look at the challenges of running state government during fiscal crisis," she said. "It also gives Dan and me a forum to debate public policy with the university's stellar thinkers and scholars."
She became a federal prosecutor in Detroit in 1990 and was elected Michigan's first female attorney general in 1998.
In 2002, Granholm was elected governor and was re-elected in 2006. As part of her goal to double the number of college graduates in Michigan, she signed into law a college prep curriculum for every high school student in the state and some of the toughest turnaround requirements in the nation for low-performing schools.
In 2007, she launched the No Worker Left Behind program for displaced adults, in which the state of Michigan pays the community college or technical school tuition of any unemployed and underemployed citizen seeking training for a high-demand job. Under her leadership, despite the implosion of the auto industry, Michigan won recognition by the Pew Center on the States as being one of the best managed states in the country and one of the top states for adding new business expansions.
Mulhern is a leadership coach; the host of "Everyday Leadership," a radio show on the Michigan Talk Network; and the author of two books: "Everyday Leadership: Getting Results in Business, Politics and Life" (2007); and "Be Real: Inspiring Stories for Leading at Home and Work" (2010).
Mulhern will teach two courses in the fall semester of 2011, one on gender, work and leadership to be offered jointly by the Goldman School and Berkeley Law, and another at the Haas School of Business on leadership.
He graduated from Yale University in 1980 with a degree in religious studies and from Harvard Law School in 1986.
Mulhern also will join faculty affiliated with Berkeley Law's Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute and its project on health, economic and family security.
"This is a terrific opportunity for me to teach the next generation of leaders, while continuing my research on leadership and public policy," said Mulhern. "I'm eager to join one of the nation?s most prestigious institutions of higher learning."
Mulhern and Granholm are writing a book together on governing the toughest state in the country during a major economic meltdown, and what Michigan's experience can mean for America.