University of Tennessee College of Law Dean Melanie Wilson and four additional law professors have been selected to help lead one of the nation’s most prestigious academic organizations serving legal educators.
Earlier this month, membership of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) selected Wilson to serve on the 10-member executive committee that guides the organization.
In addition to Wilson, executive committee members include AALS President and University of Illinois Chicago Law School Dean Darby Dickerson; AALS President-Elect and Boston College Law School Dean Vincent Rougeau: Past President and Harvard Law School Professor Vicki Jackson; Villanova School of Law Dean Mark Alexander; Columbia Law School Dean Gillian Lester; University of Toledo College of Law Dean Benjamin Barros; University of California Irvine Dean L. Song Richardson; and Indiana University School of Law Dean Austen Parrish. The organization’s Executive Director Judith Areen also serves on the committee.
Wilson will hold the position through 2022.
Four other UT College of Law professors were also selected in January to serve as section chairs with the organization throughout 2020. Wendy Bach will chair the clinical section, Doug Blaze will chair the leadership section, Michael Higdon will serve as chair-elect of the associate dean section, and Paula Schaefer will serve as chair-elect of the professional responsibility section.
Professors Sherley Cruz, Joan Heminway, and Brad Areheart will continue their history of serving the organization through committee membership.
The mission of the Association of American Law Schools, founded in 1900, is to uphold and advance excellence in legal education and serve as a voice on behalf of legal educators.
The organization represents 179 member and 18 fee-paid law schools, and its members enroll most of the nation’s law students and produce the majority of the country’s lawyers, judges, and lawmakers.