On the next Fiat Lux Redux, March 3rd at 9 AM, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland delivers the keynote speech centering on the intersection of heritage, climate resilience, and inclusive governance at the 2025 Goldman School of Public Policy (GSPP) Annual Conference and Alumni Gathering that took place on September 12, 2025.
Speaking as a 35th-generation New Mexican and the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet, Haaland shares how her “lived experience” as a single mother and Pueblo woman informed her approach to federal policy. She believes that true progress in public service requires a seat at the table for historically underserved communities, particularly when addressing the existential threat of the climate crisis and integrating traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge with modern science to protect public lands and waters.
A member of the Pueblo of Laguna, she was born into a military family in 1960 and attended 13 different public schools before eventually earning her bachelor’s degree in English and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico. Before entering high-level politics, she was a small business owner who ran a salsa company and served as a tribal administrator for the San Felipe Pueblo. In 2015, she became the first Native American woman to lead a state political party as Chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. In 2018, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, becoming one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress. In March 2021, she was confirmed as the 54th U.S. Secretary of the Interior under the Biden administration, where she managed hundreds of millions of acres of public lands and oversaw the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She is currently a candidate for Governor of New Mexico in the 2026 election.
Fiat Lux Redux presents previously aired lectures, conversations, and podcasts originating on the campus of UC Berkeley every other Tuesday from 9am to 9:30am. These often-lengthy original programs have been edited to a 30-minute format by experienced KALX producers. The show’s name, Latin for “Let there be light”, is a reference to the University of California’s motto, which is also Fiat Lux. The show’s goal is to provide listeners with a window into the intellectual and cultural life of UC Berkeley and to showcase the wide range of subjects and diversity of thought and ideas that are present at UC Berkeley.
This program was edited by Paula Burch. If you have questions or comments about Fiat Lux Redux, contact lisa.katovich@gmail.com.
