Joan Mahoney, professor of law and former dean at Western New England College School of Law and a Wayne State University alumna, was named dean of the WSU Law School today (May 22) by President Irvin Reid.
Mahoney assumes the deanship Aug. 1, succeeding James Robinson, who has been nominated by the Clinton administration to be the next assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice.
In making the announcement, Reid said Mahoney's talent and experience are especially suited to lead the WSU Law School.
"She has an impressive combination of academic credentials and teaching experience," Reid said. "In addition, she has completed significant research on issues regarding women and children, and research on bioethics in reproductive technology."
Reid noted that Mahoney has been on the law faculty at the University of Missouri at Kansas City (UMKC) and at the University of Iowa.
She taught courses in constitutional law; the First Amendment; English legal history; American legal history; jurisprudence; conflict of laws; federal jurisdiction; civil rights litigation; and parent, child and state concerns.
Her work as an attorney has been for Law Services Committee, Inc. in Hauppauge, N.Y., and Honigman, Miller, Schwartz & Cohn in Detroit.
Mahoney says she is delighted to be coming back to Wayne State. She worked on the Wayne Law Review from 1973 to 1975 and received a juris doctor degree, magna cum laude, in 1975.
Mahoney was born in New York City in 1943. Her other degrees include bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in legal history from Cambridge University.
Her articles have been published as chapters in a number of books. Her most recent articles appeared in the UMKC Law Review, Cincinnati Law Review, Midwest Medical Ethics, Harvard Law Review, American Journal of Legal History, University of Colorado Law Review and others.
In the last few years Mahoney participated in reviews of the Supreme Court 1996-97, 1994-95, and professional presentations about physician-assisted suicide, sexual predator laws, abortion, and the control of hate speech.
The Lelia J. Robinson Award for Achievement in the Legal Profession was given to Mahoney by the Women's Bar Association of Massachusetts in 1994. She also received the Pierson Award for Outstanding Instructional Service in 1985.
President Reid thanked the law dean search committee, headed by John Petersen, dean of the College of Science, for its assistance in the search. Other faculty members on the committee included Janet Findlater, John Friedl, Peter Henning, Marc Kruman, Katherine White, Robert Sedler, Alma Young and Ed Wise. Alumnus Garry Carley and student Jodi Swann also served on the committee.