Joe Biden has another job in Philadelphia — the former vice president and future Penn professor has been named the chair of the National Constitution Center, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Tuesday.
This news comes a week after Biden was officially named a Penn professor, where he will hold joint appointments in the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences, with a secondary affiliation in the Wharton School.
“Everyone is thrilled that Vice President Biden has agreed to be our chair,” NCC president and CEO Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement to the Inquirer. “Ever since he was in the Senate, the vice president has been passionate about teaching Americans about the Constitution and he cares about it deeply. It is hard to imagine a better leader for the Constitution Center in the years to come.”
The NCC, a museum dedicated entirely to the U.S. Constitution, houses various interactive educational and nonpartisan exhibits about the document as the “museum of the people.”
According to the Inquirer, Biden was voted in as chair unanimously by the center’s board of trustees. Biden’s term begins immediately, succeeding the term of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.
Rosen said he hopes that Biden’s ability to connect with different groups across the nation will boost the center’s outreach to "average citizens'” to deepen the general public's understanding of the constitution, the Inquirer reported.
“He really cares about the Constitution,” Rosen told the Inquirer. “In a time of polarization, it is especially important that the NCC embody this spirit of convening people of different perspectives to unite around the one document that defines who we are.”
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