Penn names first female law school dean in 170-plus year history

The University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday named its first female law school dean in the school’s more than 170-year history.

Sophia Z. Lee, a legal historian who has been a member of the Penn Carey Law School faculty since 2009, will start July 1.

She replaces Ted Ruger, who led the school for eight years and previously announced he would step down at the end of his term this summer. He will return to the faculty.

» READ MORE: Penn law dean seeks ‘major sanction’ against professor Amy Wax

Penn president Liz Magill called Lee a “proven leader and consensus builder” and “superb scholar” and said she “is the right leader at the right time” for the law school.

“She is widely admired not only for her own ideas but for her commitment to cultivating the ideas of others,” said incoming provost John L. Jackson Jr. “Everyone who knows Sophia is impressed by her ability to bring people together in the pursuit of common goals.”

The announcement comes as the university continues proceedings in the case brought by Ruger against professor Amy Wax, whose racist speech has stirred controversy. In June, Ruger in a 12-page letter to the faculty senate laid out charges against Wax, accusing her of “inappropriate conduct” and asking that the senate convene a hearing and ultimately levy a major sanction against her, which could include suspension or firing.

Wax has disputed the charges and filed a grievance against Ruger, and the proceedings are ongoing.

» READ MORE: Penn law prof Amy Wax asks for delay of disciplinary proceedings for her cancer treatment

Lee, who teaches constitutional and administrative law, started at Penn as an assistant professor, served as a deputy dean from 2015 to 17 under Ruger and chaired the Tenure and Promotions Committee from 2020 to 2021.

She has written about “administrative agencies’ role in shaping constitutional law; civil rights and labor advocates’ challenges to workplace discrimination during the early Cold War; and conservative legal movements in the post-New Deal era,” according to Penn’s website.

Lee got her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994 and 1999 and her law degree and doctorate in history from Yale. She previously clerked for U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood of the Southern District of New York.

“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 said in a news release.