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Alena Allen To Become First Black Dean At LSU Law School
A professor who resigned from the University of Memphis School of Law will be the first Black dean of LSU's law school.
February 28, 2023
14:20
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Alena Allen to become first Black dean at LSU law school
By: Piper Hutchinson - February 28, 2023 2:20 pm
Find out what's happening in Across Louisianafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Alena Allen has been hired as dean of the LSU Paul M. Hebert Law Center. She will be the first Black person to hold the position and the first woman to be named permanent leader. (LSU photo)
A professor who resigned from the University of Memphis School of Law due to a lack of Black leaders will be the first Black dean of LSU’s law school.
Alena Allen, currently a law professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law, will be the next dean of the LSU Law Center, the university announced Monday. Allen, a Louisiana native, will be the first woman and first African American to hold the post on a non-interim basis. Current interim Dean Lee Ann Lockridge was the first woman to serve in the role.
Allen made headlines in 2021 when she resigned from the University of Memphis School of Law due to alleged racial bias. In her resignation letter, Allen said she resigned because the school consistently passed over Black candidates for leadership positions, despite faculty favoring those candidates, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported.
Allen also serves as the deputy director for the Association of American Law Schools. Her expertise is in health policy and tort law. Allen is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans and Yale School of Law.
“We set out to find an exceptionally talented leader committed to legal education, scholarship and practice,” LSU President William Tate IV said in a press release. “Ms. Allen’s experience has the depth and breadth we need to take the Paul M. Hebert Law Center to the next level of excellence.”
Allen will start July 17, pending approval from the LSU Board of Supervisors.
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Piper Hutchinson is a reporter for the Louisiana Illuminator. She has covered the Legislature and state government extensively for the LSU Manship News Service and The Reveille, where she was named editor in chief for summer 2022.
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