UC Berkeley to Open Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy in January 2027

Nancy Pelosi will lend her name to the Nancy Pelosi Institute for Representative Democracy at the University of California, Berkeley. The institute is scheduled to open in January 2027, the same month Pelosi is expected to leave Congress. @zerohedge reported that UC Berkeley has raised $35 million toward a $50 million fundraising goal.

The institute will serve as a center for research, teaching and civic engagement focused on representative democracy and public leadership, and will be anchored in the university’s political science department. Pelosi is expected to co-teach a course on Congress.

The institute will focus on four primary areas: strengthening American democracy, addressing major social, economic and environmental challenges, promoting human and civil rights, and ensuring political leadership that represents the full spectrum of perspectives and backgrounds in California and the country.

"The work of democracy is never finished, and securing its future is our greatest calling," Pelosi said. "UC Berkeley has a long, proud history of challenging the status quo and producing leaders who run toward the greatest challenges of our time. " UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons said the university intends to do more than study democracy.

"We intend to do more than simply study democracy; we are building this institute to strengthen it," Lyons said. Pelosi, 86, served two terms as House speaker from 2007 to 2011 and 2019 to 2023. She is the only woman to have held the position and represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years.

She is not seeking reelection. The institute has already received more than $35 million in philanthropic commitments.