Dr. Jill Biden wants to return to teach at NOVA Community College as First Lady
WASHINGTON (ABC7) — On the campaign trail, Dr. Jill Biden said she would like to continue teaching if she became First Lady of the United States.
Now that her husband, former Vice President Joe Biden, is the projected President-Elect, ABC7 asked NOVA Community College if there are plans for Dr. Biden to return to teaching.
Dr. Jim McClellan is Dean of Liberal Arts at Northern Virginia Community College and was Dr. Biden's supervisor when she taught English composition on campus during the Obama years.
“We don’t treat her any differently than anyone else," he said. "She sits in a rustic cubical just like the rest of us with minimal equipment and no ambiance. Sometimes Jill brings a change of clothes to the office and she will leave from the campus straight to a State Dinner. She is able to separate those two worlds.”
Dr. McClellan said he texted Dr. Biden throughout the Fall about a plan to return to teaching.
“I have said all along that I hired a great teacher who happened to be Second Lady, not a Second Lady who happened to be a great teacher,” said Dr. McClellan, who first reached out to Dr. Biden to teach after Joe Biden became Vice-President in 2008. "Her students forget who she is after a while.”
When Dr. Biden returns to teaching, she would most likely have to teach virtually from the White House because of the ongoing pandemic.
“I think she makes an important statement for women across the world by saying that she stands on her own two feet—that she is not impediment of her husband’s career,” said Dr. McClellan.
Dr. Biden Press Secretary Michael LaRosa provided ABC7 with the following statement:
"Dr. Biden is enormously grateful to the country for electing her husband and Senator Harris. Joe Biden will be a President for all Americans. She is spending time with her children and grandchildren in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Biden is focused on building her team and developing her priorities focused on education, military families and veterans, and cancer."
