UVA has barely stayed out of the news the past year. Despite a chaotic presidential search, upheaval over the Board of Visitors, and federal lawsuits, the University can proudly boast that it made a more positive mark on history. Following a landslide victory against her Republican opponent, Abigail Spanberger became the 75th governor of Virginia and the first woman to hold the office.
Abigail Spanberger was a member of the College of Arts and Sciences, where she majored in foreign affairs and French. After graduating in 2001, Spanberger launched her professional career as a law enforcement officer for the US Postal Service. During her time there, Spanberger assisted in money laundering, child abuse, and drug trafficking cases, which helped to solidify her interest in public service.
Spanberger then joined the CIA and eventually became a Democratic member of the House of Representatives for the highly competitive 7th district, which hadn’t voted blue in decades. Throughout her three terms spanning 2019 to 2025, she returned to UVA on several occasions to offer advice and give speeches. When asked how her experiences had prepared her for serving in Congress in a 2023 interview with UVA Today, she said that her “time at UVA honed my comfort with recognizing the complicated nature of so many things, and spending time perceiving and understanding other people’s perspectives.” In the same interview, a question about a potential run for the governorship a couple of years down the line received a prophetic response: “Certainly, I think there is no better place for a Wahoo.”
As Spanberger prepares for her inauguration in mid-January, the governor-elect has wasted no time in making her influence felt at UVA by requesting that the Board of Visitors pause its presidential search. The Board, which has been embroiled in accusations of dishonesty from Former UVA President Jim Ryan, has faced pressure to stop the search altogether until vacant Board seats are filled.
The move by Spanberger received a rebuke from current governor Glenn Youngkin, who considered the request an attempt to “bully or micromanage” the Board. Upon Spanberger’s inauguration, UVA students can likely expect her administration to prioritize filling vacancies across the Board before proceeding with the presidential search — that is, if the Youngkin administration and current Board haven’t selected a president by then.
During a campaign event at UVA back in September, Spanberger was asked by a student what her vision for UVA was if she were to win the governorship. Her response reflected her grave concerns about the politicization that UVA has faced in recent years, stating that UVA is facing a “degradation of some of the sort of basic values that certainly I learned here as a student.” She then offered a vision centered around institutional reforms, such as removing the University Council from the Attorney General’s office and changing how Board appointments are made, that would prevent the type of political interference she sees as contrary to the ideals of public education.
Spanberger herself admits to not being a particularly flashy politician and is known instead for being ranked as the most bipartisan member of Congress from Virginia. In her September campaign event at UVA, Spanberger fittingly claimed that “the best thing I can and will do as governor is to demonstrate and model the type of just civic-focused commitment to commonwealth and country…that I think the people of Virginia deserve.” The quote highlights her steadiness, something UVA students can expect her term to bring to the University. As Virginia awaits the inauguration of its first female governor, Hoos can learn from Spanberger’s example of public service and be proud that yet another of our own is making history.
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