Jane B. Korn, vice dean and the John D. Lyons Professor at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, has been hired as dean of the Gonzaga University School of Law effective July 1, Gonzaga President Thayne M. McCulloh announced today. Korn becomes the Law School’s first female dean.
The announcement follows seven months of intense effort by a search committee chaired by Gonzaga Trustee and GU Law School alumnus Don Curran. Korn, who has received numerous teaching awards and has held several key administrative posts at University of Arizona since 1986, replaces Earl F. Martin, who became dean in July 2005 and stepped down to become Gonzaga’s executive vice president. Law Professor George Critchlow has served as acting dean during the 2009-10 and current academic year.
Curran described Korn as an outstanding and experienced professor and legal scholar, and an established administrator who is thoughtful, kind and fair. Korn earned a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a law degree from the University of Colorado Law School in 1983. She interviewed on campus Nov. 9-12 (2010).
“She is a person who speaks her mind very well, she is articulate and says want she means and means what she says,” Curran said. “She, by reputation, is a very balanced individual with a fair and even temperament; she is very intelligent and very courteous to people. She is a very warm and trusting individual. I think she is going to be a wonderful fit for Gonzaga.”