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Dear Tulane Community,
We write to you today to share the news that after 13 years, David Meyer, dean of Tulane Law School and the Mitchell Franklin Professor of Law, will step down, effective June 30, to assume the role of dean and president of Brooklyn Law School in New York. We are so sorry to see Dave leave, but we are also happy for him as he and his wife, Tulane Law Professor Amy Gajda, move closer to their children, both of whom live in Brooklyn. Amy will also join the Brooklyn faculty as the Jeffrey D. Forchelli Professor of Law.
Under Dave’s leadership, Tulane Law School hired two dozen permanent faculty members, appointed a dozen Tulane scholars from related disciplines as affiliated faculty, and launched new academic centers in energy law, environmental law, and law and the economy. This year the school also launched an innovative new program in space law.
The longest-serving dean in Tulane Law School’s 175-year history and the seventh longest-serving law dean in the country, Dave led a major expansion of the school’s experiential learning programs, including the creation of a nationally recognized lawyering-skills boot camp and a business literacy bootcamp. Tulane Law also created three new clinics, expanding its clinical offerings from six to nine and giving students the opportunity to practice law in such areas as criminal justice, immigrant rights, domestic violence and the First Amendment.
Dave’s list of accomplishments also includes launching online legal programs for non-lawyers, diversifying the faculty ranks by hiring more women and faculty of color, hiring the school’s first Assistant Dean of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and launching student-centric programs that address the needs of diverse students. He also led the law school successfully through a succession of significant challenges, including major disruption to legal education from the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dave deepened connections with the law school’s alumni. During Tulane’s Only the Audacious campaign, the law school raised more than $50 million in gifts and pledges and more than $84 million in total commitments and more than doubled the school’s endowment, annual giving, and number of donors.
Dave’s leadership and friendship will be sorely missed. Please join us in thanking him for his service and devotion to Tulane and wishing him and Amy much success in their next chapter.
Michael A. Fitts
President
Robin Forman
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
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