Janet Napolitano to leave post to become president of the University of California system

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Breaking news from the Washington Post this morning,Napolitano to step down to head UC system:

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will step down to become president of the University of California system, according to two individuals familiar with the decision.

Napolitano, a former governor of Arizona once seen as a potential Democratic presidential candidate who joined the Obama administration in 2009, will leave politics to run the nation’s largest public university system.

Napolitano plans to step down in September, according to a senior homeland security official familiar with her plans.

Napolitano will be the first woman to run the 10-campus university system, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported her appointment Friday morning.

“For more than four years I have had the privilege of serving President Obama and his Administration as the Secretary of Homeland Security,” Napolitano said in a statement Friday. “The opportunity to work with the dedicated men and women of the Department of Homeland Security, who serve on the front lines of our nation’s efforts to protect our communities and families from harm, has been the highlight of my professional career.”