ATLANTA – LaVonda N. Reed, Assistant Provost of Faculty Affairs at Syracuse University, has been named Dean of the College of Law at Georgia State University.
Reed will be the seventh dean in the college’s history and the first African American to preside over the College of Law.
“With experience in various aspects of college and university life, from faculty affairs and leadership to student success and teaching, Dean Reed will provide the leadership needed to advance Georgia State Law as an innovative, forward-looking legal education institution.” said Wendy Hensel, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “She will become an important part of our management team and I look forward to her contribution to achieving and expanding the university’s strategic goals.”
Reed joined the faculty of Syracuse University College of Law in 2006. Her research and teaching are in the areas of wills and trusts, property and communication regulation law and policy.
Reed has been Deputy Prostess for Faculty Affairs since 2015, where she is responsible for overseeing more than 1,700 faculty members. She oversees research and administrative leave, tenure promotion and review, policy development and enforcement, and awards, among other things. She was also responsible for running and overseeing the Lender Center for Social Justice as well as running a multi-million dollar foundation to support teaching excellence across the university.
“Joining this distinctive research facility in a vibrant city is an honor and a privilege,” said Reed. “I look forward to leading the College of Law to positively impact the legal education and profession, and meet the demands of a changing world while also providing access to those who wish to study and learn at Georgia State University College of Law to provide education. “
Reed has led various faculty recruitment and retention initiatives, an experience that will help advance the Georgia State’s Next Generation of Faculty initiative. She founded the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence and the Center for Faculty Leadership and Professional Development, which supported the work of the Syracuse National Science Foundation’s ADVANCE Scholarship in supporting women and underrepresented minority scholars in STEM disciplines.
Her commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion extends across campus, where she is focused on supporting senior and underrepresented faculty, staff, and students – which is in line with the Georgia State’s efforts for success.
Prior to joining Syracuse University, she was on the faculty of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. She was also a trainee lawyer for the Honorable Donald W. VanArtsdalen of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and practiced communications and corporate law with the international law firm Paul Hastings LLP.
Reed earned her doctorate in law from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Virginia.
Leslie E. Wolf, interim dean of the university since July 2019, is returning to the Faculty of Law.
