University Times

David J. Herring will become interim dean of the School of Law on July 1.

Herring, 39, is the school's associate dean for Academic Affairs, director of legal clinics, and professor of law. He said Provost James Maher has asked him to serve as interim dean for one year.

Pitt's administration has not yet scheduled a search for a permanent successor to current Dean Peter Shane, who on Feb. 26 announced plans to resign as dean July 1 but remain as a full professor on the school's faculty.

"This is a one-year thing, so I don't have all kinds of grandiose goals in mind," Herring said. "But I do think we have several tasks we have to address here at the school." He said those tasks include: maintaining momentum on the school's capital campaign, continuing to recruit high-quality students, and reallocating school resources from lower to higher priority programs through the University's long-range planning process.

Herring, who had planned to take a sabbatical in spring 1999, said he accepted the interim deanship out of a combined sense of duty, ambition and appreciation for support his fellow faculty members have given him in taking on the job.

Asked whether he would seek the permanent deanship, Herring replied: "I have not ruled that out, but I haven't made that commitment either. It's an open question as far as I'm concerned." Provost Maher selected Herring from a list of candidates nominated by law faculty.

In a letter to law faculty, scheduled to be delivered to their campus mail boxes this morning, Maher noted that "Professor Herring's grant and research interests have focused primarily on child welfare and family law. His grants have contributed to the support of the Family Support Legal Clinic, the Elder Law Clinic, and the Health Law Clinic programs within our School of Law, while at the same time his projects have resulted in numerous publications in scholarly journals. He is the recipient of the 1998 Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award, and he won the 1997 Children's Voice Award from the Allegheny County Court Appointed Special Advocates Program.

"I appreciate Professor Herring's willingness to step forward to help the School of Law define its future and to help the University reach its aspiration of having an even more outstanding law school." Herring completed his baccalaureate degree with highest distinction in accounting and finance from the University of Michigan. He continued at Michigan to earn his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, in 1985.

Prior to joining the Pitt law faculty in 1990, Herring served as Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, assistant state's attorney in the Criminal Appeals Division of the Cook County, Ill. State's Attorney Office, and clinical assistant professor of law and supervising attorney in the University of Michigan Child Advocacy Law Clinic.

— Bruce Steele