Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Page 4
UC Hastings Law School Names Frank H. Wu Chancellor
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The UC Hastings College of Law Board of Directors yesterday announced the selection of Howard University Law School Professor Frank H. Wu as the new chancellor and dean.
Wu, 42, a former dean at Wayne State University Law School, will assume his new position on July 1, 2010, which he called “an exciting and extraordinary opportunity to elevate UC Hastings even higher on the national scene.” He said he was “deeply honored and privileged to bring my experience and skills to bear on this challenge.”
Bruce Simon, chair of the Board of Directors of Hastings and co-chair of the Dean Selection Committee, praised Wu as a “brilliant, world-class scholar and national leader in higher education” with “the experience and commitment to develop unprecedented private support for the College.”
Simon said that Wu was selected from a field of highly-qualified candidates “because of his powerful strategic vision for raising our 131-year-old law school to a new level.”
During the selection process, a spokesperson for the school said Wu provided a “concrete three-point plan to build on the school’s historical strength in scholarship and education,” which emphasized “that higher education must prepare students for their careers by giving them the skills needed to succeed; that the lawyers and the leaders of today and the future must be ready to work within a global economy with a Pacific Rim emphasis; and students must be able to blend their technical abilities in analyzing doctrine with the strengths of other disciplines.”
Wu also called special attention to the need to increase private support to ensure students continue to have meaningful access to a quality legal education and said he intends to begin the first-ever capital campaign for UC Hastings, the school spokesperson said.
Simon said that Wu’s “positive fund-raising experience at Wayne State and throughout his entire academic and legal career was a critical factor in our decision.”
Wu will receive an annual salary of $350,000 but has indicated an intent to donate $25,000 to the school every year for scholarships and academic support, the spokesperson said.
Since the departure of former Chancellor and Dean Nell Newton last summer, UC Hastings Professor Leo Martinez has served as acting chancellor and dean. Martinez opined that Wu’s “stature and national presence is a huge win for UC Hastings,” which “spells success on a new scale.”
Wu has taught as a full-time visiting professor at the law schools of Peking University, University of Maryland, George Washington University, and University of Michigan, in addition to having taught undergraduates at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and Deep Springs College, the UC Hastings spokesperson said.
He also serves as a trustee of Gallaudet University, which serves the deaf and hard of hearing, and has been vice-chairman of their board since 2006.
Last week, Wu was appointed to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, an advisory body on accreditation and earlier this year he was appointed to the Congressionally-mandated Military Leadership Diversity Commission.
In 2004, Wu joined the Board of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and in 2001 he was appointed to a one-year term as chair of the D.C. Human Rights Commission by then-Mayor Anthony Williams.
Wu has also served as a member of the Board on Professional Responsibility for the D.C. Court of Appeals, is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
He received the Chang-Lin Tien Education Leadership Award from the Asian Pacific Fund, named for the late chancellor of UC Berkeley, in 2008 and the Trailblazer Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2007.
Prior to his academic career, Wu held a clerkship with U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti of the Northern District of Ohio, now deceased, and practiced law with Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco.
He received his undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from the University of Michigan. Wu has also completed the Management Development Program of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Wu is married to Carol L. Izumi, a legal scholar and law professor.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company