FlaLaw » 2003 » March » 17

Director Named For Center For Race & Race Relations

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:37:54 +0000

University of Maryland Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice Katheryn Russell- Brown has been named director of the Levin College of Law Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations (CSRRR). “We conducted a very thorough national search to find someone with Katheryn’s unique combination of scholarship and leadership,” said Dean Jon Mills. “She not only has strong academic credentials, she possesses the ability to foster unity and understanding across campus and throughout the state. I believe she will deepen our knowledge of racial issues and help us develop strategies for the future.” “This is a wonderful opportunity to continue and elevate the important but challenging local, national, and global conversation on race,” said Russell-Brown. “UF’s law school offers an intellectually rigorous and welcoming environment for this work.” The first of its kind at a Southern law school, the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations seeks to promote racial understanding, interracial dispute resolution, racial equality and racial healing, and to influence public policy through university, local, state and national projects. It also brings guest speakers to campus and hosts state and national conferences, such as the “Rhyme, Rhetoric and Race” conference (see page 3) beginning this Thursday (March 27). “Katheryn Russell-Brown is superbly qualified to lead CSRRR,” said Search Committee member Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, David H. Levin Chair in Family Law, director of the Center on Children and the Law and co-director of the Institute for Child and Adolescent Research and Evaluation. “We were looking for a person of vision and versatility — but we never dreamed we could find a lawyer, scholar, teacher, sociologist, mentor and administrator wrapped up in one. Katheryn is truly a renaissance woman and we were lucky to find her,” said Woodhouse. Russell-Brown is the author of two books, The Color of Crime and the forthcoming Underground Codes: Race, Crime, and Related Fires, both published by New York University Press. Her 1994 article, “The Constitutionality of Jury Override in Alabama Death Penalty Cases,” published in the Alabama Law Review, was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Harris v. Alabama (1995). She received her B.A. (legal studies) from the University of California-Berkeley, J.D. from the University of California Hastings Law School and Ph.D. (criminology) from the University of Maryland. Her teaching, research and writing have been in the areas of criminal law, sociology of law and race and crime. In addition to her 11 years at Maryland, she has taught at the American University School of Law, City University of New York (CUNY) Law School, Howard University and Alabama State University. She previously worked at the Southern Poverty Law Center as a legal intern. She is a member of the American Society of Criminology, Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and American Bar Association. CSRRR has been under direction of Associate Director Desta Meghoo-Peddie since the departure of former director Rahim Reed.

In the Spotlight: Lars Noah

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:34:34 +0000

• Professor Lars Noah conducted a faculty seminar at UF’s J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center as part of its series on Pharmacogenomics. He will publish an item related to this subject next month in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Shannon Named To New Associate Dean Position

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:32:48 +0000

Major renovations are underway at the UF Levin College of Law — and not all of them have to do with facilities. Among other things, the school is examining its organizational structure and how it can become more efficient and better serve students, faculty and alumni. The first significant reorganization occurred last week, when Dean Jon Mills announced that Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Patrick Shannon had been promoted into the new position of associate dean for administrative affairs. “Deans and associate deans in academic affairs tend to remain in those roles for a limited time, so most law schools our size have a position like this,” said Mills. “A long-term administrator is vital to provide continuity and carry the institutional history. Pat’s experience, qualifications and reputation made him the ideal choice for this important role.” The promotion became official March 1 and Shannon will assume full-time responsibility for his new duties April 15, though he began to take on many of them last August. “I find it very fulfilling to help students, and it has been frustrating for me this school year that — as I tried to meet the demands of both jobs — I could not be as available to them as I would have liked,” said Shannon. “But we have the greatest students in the world, and I have appreciated their understanding of my dilemma.” Shannon will work closely with the dean and associate dean for academic affairs in overseeing the law school’s budget process, personnel and physical plant, including logistical coordination for the new building and major renovations. His new position combines some duties previously charged to the associate dean for academic affairs with much of the work now performed by Director of Administrative Services Martina Pelley, who retires June 30 after 31 years with the law school (see page 2). It eliminates existing overlaps and duplications between those positions, and adds more policy-making responsibility. “This is something I have always wanted to do, and I am very excited about the challenges and potential it represents. It is truly a position that — like Martina — I can see myself remaining in until I retire,” said Shannon. “I hope to build on the strong foundation created by Martina and previous associate deans, and to implement the same open door policy and ‘servant leadership’ philosophy I used in my interaction with students in working with the larger law school community.” “Servant leadership is serving those around you to enable them to reach their potential, so we all can serve the greater good,” Shannon explained. “I hope faculty, staff and students see me as a resource to help them overcome hurdles that prevent us from achieving our goals as an institution.” Shannon was hired as assistant dean for student affairs in 1996 by Dean Richard Matasar, who charged him with implementing an open door policy and making the Office of Student Affairs more accessible to students. “During the seven years I served as assistant dean, I saw roughly 17,500 students in my office — as many as 125 in a single day. That represents those who actually signed in, and doesn’t include chats on the phone at home — some at 3 a.m. — conversations at the front counter, in the corridor or elsewhere.” Along with administrative duties, Shannon teaches education and disability law seminars at the law school. He also holds an affiliate position in the UF Warrington College of Business, where he teaches employment law in the MBA program. He previously served in private practice with Gardner Ewing & Souze in Louisville, Kentucky, and for nine years was a communications professor at three different colleges in Texas and Kentucky. He earned his doctorate in administration from the University of Louisville, where he later earned his law degree. Professor Jeffrey Davis is heading a search for a new assistant dean for student affairs, and the committee hopes to fill the position by June.

Martina Pelley Retires June 30 After 31 Years At UF Law

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:32:04 +0000

Coordinator for Administrative Services Martina Pelley will bid the law school farewell June 30, concluding 31 years of exemplary service to the College of Law and close to 40 with the university. “Working with Martina over the past year has been an extraordinary pleasure, and it’s hard to imagine the law school without her,” said Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Michael Friel. “She has done a wonderful job, and we’ll miss her very much.” “I’m sad I won’t be here to see the results of the renovations and other changes, but pleased that such wonderful people — all of whom I will miss very much — will be here to take care of the law school,” said Pelley. After she retires, Pelley’s position will be reconfigured and combined with other responsibilities into a new position — associate dean for administrative affairs — now held in transitional/ learning mode by former Student Affairs Assistant Dean Patrick Shannon (see page 3). “I’m delighted Pat was chosen, and that we have been given time to work together to ensure a smooth transition,” said Pelley. Pelley joined UF law in 1971 as secretary to Legal Information Center Director Betty Taylor, who later recommended her for the position in the Dean’s Office. “Over the years Martina worked for the library, she was constantly seeking better ways of doing things,” said Taylor. “She was a joy to work with and adept at dealing with the many unexpected challenges that arose every day with a sense of humor and purpose.” “Having worked closely with Martina for more than two years, I understand that she is, in many ways, the heart of the law school,” said Professor Michael Seigel, former associate dean. “She is a classic ‘un-sung hero,’ handling so many things so well behind the scenes that faculty and other staff are simply unaware of it.” “It has been my good fortune over the years to work with five deans — Dick Julin, Tom Reed, Jeff Lewis, Rick Matasar and Jon Mills — and six associate deans, and discover they each were terrific in their own way,” said Pelley. A Gainesville native, she received her B.A. (sociology) and M.A. (education) from the University of Florida. Prior to joining the law school, she worked for the UF J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center in orthopedics, communication disorders and purchasing.

Conference Draws 200-Plus

wsmitty@ufl.edu — Mon, 17 Mar 2003 16:31:17 +0000

Combined efforts from conference Co- Chairs Kelly Martinson and Kelly Samek, 20 other UF law students and 15 lawyers from the Public Interest Committee of the Environmental and Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar resulted in a record crowd of 200-plus — including 140 paid registrants — at the Ninth Annual Public Interest Conference Feb. 27- March 1. Dr. Bron Taylor, a renowned scholar on religion and nature, examined the evolution of environmentalism, religion’s relationship to the environment, environmental philosophy and environmental law — from passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964 to the Johannesburg Summit in 2001 — at a kick-off reception at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Participants Friday evening were treated to a preview by Wes Skiles of his new film, “Water’s Journey,” to air on PBS stations around the country this October. Fitting appropriately with the conference theme, “Florida’s Final Frontiers,” it chronicled cave divers mapping the Floridian aquifer, with cameras following them underground and a tracking team on the surface, offering dramatic evidence of the impact actions on land have on the quality of underground water supplies. And Jan Schlichtmann, one of the country’s leading civil litigators in environmental protection and product safety and a powerful advocate for the value of mediation, spoke Saturday on representing Massachusetts plaintiffs in the famous case against WR Grace and Beatrice foods and his present practice, where he employs mediation to achieve justice for clients in similar cases. Other sessions examined Florida resources, land and development, water, wildlife and habitats and toxic tort litigation. The conference was sponsored by the UF Environmental and Land Use Law Society and Center for Governmental Responsibility in cooperation with the Environmental and Land Use Law Section of The Florida Bar. Financial support also was provided by the Jelks Family Foundation, UF Student Government, Law College Council and Hopping Green & Sams, P.A. of Tallahassee. 2004 conference Co-Chairs Ryan Osbourne and Erika Zimmerman are planning the 10th annual conference, to be held Feb. 19-21 and include a special tribute to and reunion of alumni who led the first nine.