Alberto Gonzales
LUBBOCK, Texas (Legal Newsline)-Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has accepted a teaching and recruitment position at Texas Tech University, school officials said.
Gonzales, who resigned in 2007 amid a political firestorm over the dismissal of seven federal prosecutors and other controversies, will serve as a visiting professor beginning Aug. 1.
He will teach the junior-level seminar course "Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch" in the school's Political Science Department, and will also assist with recruiting and retaining minority students, the school said Tuesday.
Before serving as U.S. attorney general, Gonzales, 53, had served as then-Gov. George W. Bush's personal attorney and later was Texas secretary of state and a Texas Supreme Court justice.
In a statement, Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance said he is pleased that Gonzales will be sharing his personal and political experiences with students at the Lubbock campus.
"I am excited that Alberto Gonzales is bringing his experience to Texas Tech," Hance said. "His own upbringing in Houston as part of a migrant family with eight children makes him qualified to tell underrepresented Texas students that college is possible."
The interim dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences said Gonzales brings a "rich perspective of the executive branch and issues and challenges facing our nation."
From Legal Newsline: Reach staff reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.