Brietta Clark has been announced as Loyola Marymount University Law School’s newest dean. She is the first Black woman to hold the title in the university’s 103-year history.
Clark’s historic appointment has been years in the making, having worked as a teacher for over two decades. She also had a brief five-month tenure as interim dean of the school before officially taking office. Now, Clark has been integrated into a network of leading Black women in academia who are heralding a new era for law students.
“I do hope the fact my existence will help show someone, ‘Oh, actually. I can get that far. That looks like me. I can see myself there,” Clark said about the achievement.
Loyola Marymount University Executive Vice President and Provost Thom
as Poon, Ph.D., shared his excitement about the decision. “I am thrilled to welcome Brietta Clark as the new Fritz B. Burns Dean of LMU Loyola Law School,” he said. “Her unparalleled expertise, combined with her passion for advancing research and education and her commitment to diversity and inclusion, makes her an exceptional leader to propel our law school into a future of excellence and innovation.”Clark continued, saying, “We need to make sure that communities we are serving are reflected. That their views are known and that people understand what kind of problems exist that we need to try to solve.”
CBS News reports that law schools have undergone significant changes to promote diversity initiatives amid controversial legislation and restrictions. Several subjects, including abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and affirmative action, have made headlines these past few years, and Clark’s selection indicates this shift. “This is a place where we interrogate the law,” she said. “Where we’re all about social justice.
We think about inequality, right? And yet it has taken a long time for the legal academy to start to have its leadership, and even its professors and faculty and students, really reflect the diversity of America.”RELATED CONTENT: Carla Smith Becomes The First Black Person To Head NYC’s LGBTQ+ Community Center