Kaine to teach part time at UR after he leaves office

Saying he wants to keep a base in Richmond as he serves as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced yesterday that he will join the University of Richmond faculty when he leaves office in January.

Kaine will teach one class per semester, beginning in the spring with an undergraduate course in leadership studies. In the fall, he will teach a law school class.

His nontenured, part-time appointment to UR's School of Law and the Jepson School of Leadership Studies was announced at a morning news conference on campus with UR President Edward L. Ayers.

Kaine, a Harvard law graduate, said he was looking forward to working with the university on The Richmond Promise, UR's strategic plan promoting community engagement, and a commitment to access, affordability and diversity.

"Governor Kaine can open many doors for us" in reaching those goals, Ayers said.

Kaine said he and Ayers began talking a year ago about the possibility that he would return to the private university, where he taught legal courses from 1987 to 1993 before seeking elected office.

Officials at public universities had approached him, he said, but he told them he couldn't have that conversation as long as he was writing their budgets and appointing their boards.

Kaine said his Democratic leadership role will be his primary job, and that he expects to be on the road Tuesday through Saturday. "But every Monday morning I'll teach."

UR would not disclose his salary. Kaine is accepting no DNC salary during his final year as governor.

He said he and his wife, Anne Holton, are approaching the 25th anniversary of their marriage and their arrival in Richmond.

"We're moving into the next chapter, the second half of our work life, and we want it to be here in Richmond," he said.

The course he will teach this spring will focus on leadership breakthroughs, he said. It will examine American life from the 1930s to the'50s and then jump forward to discuss the contemporary issue of health-care reform.

Classroom discussions may be political, but they won't be partisan, he said.

Recounting his political roles from Richmond mayor to Democratic chairman, Kaine said he knows something about success and the need for resiliency that are necessary for leadership breakthroughs.

"I've got some leadership experiences and some scars," he said.

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .