Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s Next Gig: Belmont Professor

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean is joining the faculty of Belmont University, as a professor of history and politics.

The school announced Wednesday morning that the outgoing mayor will become a “visiting professor” after he leaves office this fall.

Dean said it hasn’t been determined yet which courses he will teach. But he’ll probably begin by delivering lectures on topics like urban development in October.

He said he’s ready for the change of pace.

“I, obviously, will miss sort of the day-to-day involvement with everything that’s going on in the city,” he said. “But eight years is enough.”

The teaching gig isn’t Dean’s first. Before becoming mayor, he was an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt Law School.

Dean also follows his predecessor, Bill Purcell, in moving to academia. After leaving office, Purcell was a fellow and lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and served as interim dean of Tennessee State University’s College of Public Service and Urban Affairs. He’s now an adjunct professor at Vanderbilt.

The Belmont post is one of at least two jobs Dean will hold after he leaves office. He announced in December he will become chairman of Project Renaissance, a nonprofit that promotes school choice.

Dean, a Democrat, is also widely seen as a potential candidate for statewide office in 2018. Dean demurred when asked if he’d run again.

“We’ll just have to see,” he said. “I’m not planning anything in my basement right now.”