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Sophia Z. Lee Named New Dean

April 04, 2023

Sophia Z. Lee has been named the new dean of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

From Penn Today:

Sophia Z. Lee has been named dean of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, effective July 1, 2023. Lee, currently a Professor of Law with a secondary appointment in History, has been a member of the Penn Carey Law faculty since 2009. The announcement was made today by Penn President Liz Magill.

“Sophia Lee is a proven leader and a consensus builder,” said President Magill. “A superb scholar and teacher of constitutional and administrative law, she is deeply dedicated to Penn Carey Law and to the people—faculty, staff, students, and alumni—who are central to its work. She embodies Penn Carey Law’s core values. Sophia Lee is the right leader at the right time to elevate Penn Carey Law’s status to even greater heights.”

Lee joined the Penn Carey Law faculty in 2009 as an Assistant Professor of Law. She has held a variety of leadership and service roles at both the school and university level. She was the law school’s Deputy Dean from 2015 to 2017, serving a full two-year term under Dean Theodore W. Ruger.

“I am thrilled for this opportunity to serve the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have given me so much during my time at Penn Carey Law,” said Lee. “I look forward to working together to build on the law school’s defining strengths, ensure that we remain at the forefront of scholarly excellence, and prepare our graduates for fulfilling lives of practice, leadership, scholarship, and service at the highest levels.”

Lee’s scholarly work is rooted in cross-disciplinary collaboration. She helped pioneer the study of administrative agencies’ role in shaping constitutional law and has written about civil rights and labor advocates’ challenges to workplace discrimination as well as conservative legal movements in the post-New Deal era… .

Read the full announcement at Penn Today.