Corbett Heads Back To Classroom After Politics
PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio1020 KDKA)- Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has been laying low since losing the bid for reelection. One of the questions on a lot of minds would be where would he go after his career in politics?
We now have that answer and it is one that might not come as a surprise. Corbett is going back to the classroom.
Corbett credits trips to the Steelers' training camp with sparking the idea of teaching after politics. In conversations with Fr. Paul Taylor at St. Vincent, he talked about wanting to return to teaching at the college level, not the high school level.
In the early 2000's, Corbett taught a criminal law course at Duquense Law School with other professors. Taylor said they would revisit this idea when Corbett was ready.
"So, as you know, it ended four years premature for me and we starting talking, oh I guess about, April of this year about coming there and teaching," Corbett said, "It was decided that I would work with him (Taylor) co-teaching an environmental law course and I've been asked in the next semester to teach the state and local government course, which I think will be pretty comfortable and pretty interesting."
Corbett says he enjoys working with the students, hearing what they are thinking and giving them the opportunity to see something in a perspective that some students may never get to have. His first-hand experience in politics can deliver a fresh approach that you can not get from a text book or a lecture.
In addition to classes Corbett will be teaching at St. Vincent, the Dean at Duquesne Law School asked if he would teach classes there alongside professors Joe Mistick and John Rago. There, they talk about criminal justice reform, the transportation bill, healthcare and a few other subjects.
With all the talk of politics in his classes, does he miss being a part of it?
"I miss the people. You have to understand, in Harrisburg, basically for ten solid years with a pace that is kind of hard to describe other than saying you're going a thousand miles an hour and then you leave office and all of a sudden, you're going about one mile an hour," said Corbett.
He joked the emails and phone calls decreased by an incredible amount, which made going out for things like a cup of coffee easier. Corbett and his wife spent the first six months after he left office traveling, relaxing and reconnecting. He says the hardest part is missing the people he worked so closely with for so long.
Corbett admitted he can check out for the most part, but still follows what his colleagues are doing around the country. As for the current headlines, he reads about state politics.
"I can tell you this. I wish that I would have had a legislature that appears to be now willing to pass pension reform and liquor reform," Corbett said. "Had we had that last year, I would have signed those bills and we'd be moving forward and I think pension reform is absolutely necessary for the long term fiscal health of this state."
Now, Corbett can enjoy his coffee, catching a movie, driving a car without security detail and step back into a normal life outside of politics, while stepping back into the classroom teaching what he is passionate about.
You can hear the whole interview here.
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