Santa Clara University

One alumna planning to attend the Grand Reunion is Janet Napolitano '79, U.S. Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and former Arizona Governor. The political science major who was valedictorian of the class of 1979 is celebrating her 40-year reunion with her class on campus.

Napolitano will kick off the university's annual President's Speaker Series Thursday, October 15, at 7:30 p.m., with a speech on global security. Tickets are $25 each.

As Secretary, Napolitano manages a department with 225,000 employees and a $55 million budget whose mandate is clear: to keep Americans safe. In the early months of her tenure, she has traveled to Pakistan, Mexico, Ontario, and Ireland to drive security efforts in shipping, transportation, cyberspace, and border security.

"Security cannot be the role of the Department of Homeland Security alone. Everybody has a role," she says. "We cannot do it by ourselves."

As governor of Arizona, Napolitano was instrumental in opening the first state counter-terrorism center and led efforts to transform immigration enforcement.

She also received an honorary degree and gave the keynote address at Santa Clara's 2003 commencement ceremony.

"Secretary Napolitano is the perfect speaker to lead off this year's President's Speaker Series," said Margaret Avritt, marketing director for the Office of Marketing and Communications. "She's an SCU graduate, and she fits perfectly into the theme of the 2009-10 series: 'Globalization: Boon or Bane?'"

Other speakers in the series include Jon Sobrino, S.J., a Jesuit Catholic priest and theologian, known mostly for his contributions to liberation theology, and David Sanger, White House correspondent for the New York Times.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.scu.edu/speakerseries.