Libby A. Nelson of Politico has written a new piece which examines the trend of politicians making the switch to higher education.

Universities hire politician presidents

Mitch Daniels self-deprecatingly describes himself as a freshman in higher education. If that’s the case, Janet Napolitano is his classmate.

The former Indiana governor and former secretary of Homeland Security both became university presidents in 2013: Daniels at Purdue and Napolitano at the 10-campus University of California system.

The moves might seem unlikely next steps for prominent politicians.

But college presidents aren’t just expected to deal with budgets and faculty members. They advocate to Congress and state lawmakers and execute billion-dollar fundraising goals — and politicians used to the era of soft money are a natural fit for coaxing donations from alumni and wealthy supporters.

So there are good reasons for politicians who found a second act, or an intermission, in academia to feel comfortable in the ivory tower’s corner office.

Daniels raised $36.9 million for his two victorious gubernatorial campaigns in 2004 and 2008. Purdue, on the other hand, has raised more than $200 million annually for each of the past 10 years.

“You don’t feel dirty when you’re soliciting money for a university and you do when you’re soliciting money for a political campaign,” said Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator and governor who was president of The New School in New York from 2001 to 2010.

As system president, Napolitano doesn’t do as much fundraising as the chancellors of the University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Los Angeles and other campuses, who answer to her. But she’ll have plenty of contact with the state’s Legislature: “My role is to be the strongest possible advocate for the need to support and invest in this university system,” she said in November.

In other words: “There is politics,” Napolitano said, adding that she must balance the demands and needs of the state, faculty, students and thousands of workers. “It’s just what kind of politics you’re talking about.”