The University of Virginia announced Wednesday that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is joining the faculty as a professor.
“With democracy under fire in this country and elsewhere around the world, Liz Cheney serves as a model of political courage and leadership. Liz will send a compelling message to students about integrity. She’s a true profile in courage, and she was willing to pay the price for her principles—and democracy itself,” Larry Sabato, the Director of the university’s Center for Politics and founder of the online election handicapper “Sabato’s Crystal Ball,” said in a statement.
Former Vice Chair of last year’s House Select January 6 Committee, Cheney had been the number-three ranked House Republican before her colleagues stripped her of her leadership role in 2021 for calling out former President Trump’s false 2020 election claims. She lost her state’s Republican primary in the 2022 midterm elections.
Cheney said she hopes her work at the university will “contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve but strengthen our democracy” at a time when “there are many threats facing our system of government.”
Previously Cheney had said she was weighing a run for President, and has repeatedly said she’ll do “whatever it takes” to prevent Trump from being the 2024 GOP Presidential nominee.
Cheney’s appointment is effective immediately and will run through this year’s fall semester with an option to renew, according to UVA’s Center for Politics.
