Barack Hussein Obama II (August 4, 1961) is the 44th President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Born in Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He was a community organizer, civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, running unsuccessfully for the United States House of Representatives in 2000. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president. He was named the Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2009. In April 2011, he announced that he would be running for re-election in 2012.