WASHINGTON: Former US Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney has been appointed as a professor at the University of Virginia, the school said Wednesday.

Cheney, who lost her seat in Congress last year to an election conspiracy theorist, will assume the role of professor of practice at the university’s Center for Politics, it said.

The 56-year-old daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney had become a pariah in the party over her membership on the congressional panel investigating the January 6 assault on the US Capitol – and Donald Trump’s role in fanning the flames.

Her defeat in the Wyoming Republican primary marked the end of the family’s four-decade political association with one of America’s most conservative states.

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“Preserving our constitutional republic is the most important work of our time, and our nation’s young people will play a crucial role in this effort,” Cheney said in a statement.

“I hope my work with the Center for Politics and the broader community at the University of Virginia will contribute to finding lasting solutions that not only preserve, but strengthen our democracy,” she said.