Camille A. Nelson named Dean of Suffolk Law

Camille A. Nelson (photo), Professor of Law at Hofstra University Law School, is slated to become the 12th Dean of Suffolk University Law School beginning September 1, 2010. She is the first woman, the first African-American, and the first person of color to hold that position in the university's history. (See Boston.com article here.)

Professor Nelson, listed in my recent posts on "Black Women Teaching International Law" (part of our "Experts at Law" series), has taught Contracts, Sports Law, Comparative Criminal Law, Transnational Law, and Critical Race Theory. (On other law deans with international law expertise, see IntLawGrrls' prior posts here, here, here, and here.)

International foremother "Miss Lou" is particularly pleased to report that Professor Nelson has transnational roots in the Caribbean, Canada, and the United States of America. Nelson's book, co-edited with Charmaine A. Nelson, her sister, is titled Racism, Eh?: A Critical Inter-Disciplinary Anthology of Race and Racism in Canada.

Professor Nelson is highly respected and regarded throughout the legal academy as a leader, a scholar, and a champion of social justice and public service.

Heartfelt congratulations!

Janet Koven Levit Named Dean at University of Tulsa College of Law

It is my tremendous pleasure to announce that Janet Koven Levit, who has served as Interim Dean for the past year, was named the Dean of Tulsa University College of Law. As noted in the university press release: "The appointment, effective immediately, makes Levit the first female dean in the college’s history as well as the first dean drawn from among the college’s faculty since the 1960s."
Dean Levit is not only an accomplished international law scholar who has broken ground with her work on bottom up lawmaking, but she also plans in her deanship to emphasize the area as one of the school's strengths. The press release summarizes: "Levit said her goals for the law school are to continue the trends she began as interim dean, in particular setting the college apart from other regional law schools by offering top-tier students a law school experience that is excellent in all respects and by building upon TU’s strengths in energy law, Native American law, and international law."
This emphasis is particularly exciting because of Tulsa's location in the middle of the United States and Oklahoma's evolving energy industry. Dean Levit has long been an advocate of the importance of engaging international law in the "heartland," and her scholarship has highlighted the state courts' and Tulsa's engagement with international legal issues. I have tremendous confidence that her deanship represents an important new chapter for the law school's growth and development, as well as a real opportunity for engaging the role and complexities of international law in this region of the country.

(Janet joins a host of international law deans, about whom we've posted here, here, and here.)

Janet Koven Levit Named Interim Dean at University of Tulsa College of Law

I am delighted to report that Janet Koven Levit (left), whose excellent scholarship on bottom-up lawmaking provides helpful insights into the dance between formal and informal law, has just been named Interim Dean of University of Tulsa College of Law. This is an exciting moment for the law school, and I have great confidence that it will thrive under Levit's able leadership. Congratulations to Levit on her accomplishment and for adding another intlawgrrl to the ranks of law school deans.