Former U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski will join the faculty at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

The university announced Thursday that the 80-year-old Mikulski will start next week as a professor of public policy and an adviser to university leaders.

Mikulski was the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress. The Baltimore native representing Maryland in the Senate for 30 years and retired earlier this month.

Mikulski began her political career as an activist in Baltimore's Fells Point neighborhood. She says in a statement that her new job will allow her "to continue to play a role locally in shaping Baltimore's future while promoting a national agenda of innovation, leadership and service."

Mikulski also has agreed to donate her congressional papers to the university, which will make them available to researchers.