LSAT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the LSAC Leadership Team
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Vice President
- Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for LSAC
Ana Tavares is vice president and Chief Financial Officer for LSAC and leads LSAC's Finance & Accounting functions. Tavares' career spans more than 20 years of broad international experience and a strong background in finance and leadership.
Before joining LSAC in 2021, Ana served as vice president for Canon U.S.A., a global imaging leader. She spent nine years taking on increasingly broad responsibilities at Canon, becoming vice president of finance and accounting in 2019. Before that, Ana served in various complex financial roles at industry-leading global companies, including Bristol-Myers-Squibb, and Pall Corporation (Danaher). At Bristol Myers Squib, Ana took on leadership roles in support of key transactions such as the spin-off and IPO of Mead Johnson, and the divestiture of Convatec. At Pall Corporation, Ana led the strategy and execution of global shared services, and had finance leadership in growth initiatives.
Tavares earned her Bachelors and Licenciatura degrees in Accounting and Finance Administration from the Higher Institute of Accounting and Administration of Lisbon. Ana Tavares' areas of expertise include global shared services and organizational optimization, and she has spoken nationally and internationally on these subjects.
Angela Onwuachi-Willig (elected; term expires May 2024) is dean and Ryan Roth Gallo & Ernest J. Gallo professor of law at Boston University School of Law. A renowned legal scholar and expert in critical race theory, employment discrimination, and family law, she joined the law school as dean in August 2018.
Before joining the School of Law, Onwuachi-Willig served as chancellor's professor of law at University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Previously, she taught at The University of Iowa College of Law, where she was the Charles and Marion Kierscht professor, and at University of California, Davis School of Law (King Hall), where she was acting (assistant) professor of law. As a classroom teacher, she taught employment discrimination, evidence, family law, critical race theory, and torts.
Onwuachi-Willig is the author of According to Our Hearts: Rhinelander v. Rhinelander and the Law of the Multiracial Family (Yale, 2013). Her articles have appeared in leading law journals such as the Yale Law Journal, Virginia Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, California Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Texas Law Review, UCLA Law Review, and Vanderbilt Law Review, to name a few.
Onwuachi-Willig is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Fred Zacharias Award, given by the AALS Section on Professional Responsibility to the best academic writing in the field (2022); the Association of American Law Schools Clyde Ferguson Award (2015); the AALS Derrick Bell Award (2006); the Gertrude Rush Award (2016) from the Iowa Organization of Women Attorneys and the Iowa Chapter of the National Bar Association; and the Law and Society Association's John Hope Franklin, Jr., Prize (2018). Along with her coauthor Mario Barnes, she is the first faculty member to win both the Ferguson and Bell Awards. In the 2017-18 academic year, Onwuachi-Willig served as the William H. Neukom Fellows research chair in diversity and law at the American Bar Foundation. More recently, she and four black women decanal colleagues were selected to be the inaugural recipients of the AALS Impact Award and recipients of the M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award from SALT in recognition of the extraordinary work they performed in collating the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project in January 2021.
Job Titles:
- Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer
Ann Killian Perry (elected; term expires May 2023) has been the associate dean for admissions and financial aid at the University of Chicago Law School since August 2002, where she oversees all aspects of the admissions process, including scholarships. Prior to joining the University of Chicago Law School community, she was the assistant dean for student affairs and financial aid at the University of Illinois College of Law, where she also spent two years doing alumni and development work. Dean Perry's volunteer work in the admissions arena includes service to the Law School Admission Council as a member of the Services and Programs Committee, Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee, and Newcomers Workshop Planning Work Group. She also chaired the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group in 2012. Prior to entering law school administration, Dean Perry was an associate at Stellato & Schwartz in Chicago. She earned both her AB in political science and her JD from the University of Illinois.
Job Titles:
- Chief Strategy Officer
- Executive Vice President
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Candidate Services
Job Titles:
- Deputy for Legal Education
Dean Gapasin has a demonstrated commitment of volunteerism with LSAC. Alongside her time on the Board, she is again serving as chair of the Forums Work Group. Her other previous leadership roles include chair of the Newcomers Workshop and chair of the International Forums Work Group. She has also served on the inaugural cohort of the Emerging Markets and Innovation Committee, as well as on the Services and Programs Committee for two terms, the LLM SOGAP Work Group, the LLM Issues Subcommittee, two Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Committees, the Information Services Division Advisory Group, the Electronic Services Conference Planning Committee, and the Discover Law/Prelaw Undergraduates Scholars (PLUS) Subcommittee. She is also a frequent speaker and presenter at various LSAC events and other prelaw and diversity conferences.
Danielle Holley (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the dean of Howard University School of Law. Dean Holley is a scholar of education law and civil rights, and an expert on diversity in the legal profession and higher education. Dean Holley holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Harvard Law School, and she was a law clerk to Judge Carl E. Stewart on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
David Kirschner (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the associate dean of admissions and financial aid at University of Southern California, Gould School of Law. Kirschner earned his BA in film production cum laude from the University of Southern California and his JD cum laude from California Western School of Law. While in law school, he served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Barbara L. Major, Magistrate Judge, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Kirschner began his career in law school admissions as an alumni recruiter at California Western School of Law before becoming assistant and then associate director of admissions at Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University. In his current position at USC, Kirschner is responsible for the setting and implementation of strategic goals and targets for each admission cycle. Kirschner also enjoys being at the forefront of using technology to advance the strategic enrollment modeling aspect of admissions as well as the marketing piece. Kirschner has extensive experience with LSAC and other professional organizations related to legal education. In addition to his current role as Chair of the Emerging Markets & Innovation Committee, Kirschner also serves on the LSAC Legal Education Program Advisory Committee. Most recently, Kirschner served as the inaugural Chair of LSAC's Emerging Markets & Innovation Committee and as a member of the LSAC Board of Trustees. Previously, he served two terms on LSAC's Services and Programs Committee, and has chaired the Forums Work Group. Kirschner has also served on the Information Support Division Advisory Group (ISDAG) and Test Development and Research Committee. Additionally, Kirschner has served as chair of the AALS Section on PreLegal Education and Admission to Law School.
Dean Abrams is a graduate of Swarthmore College, where she earned a BA in English literature with highest honors. She graduated with distinction from Stanford University Law School, where she was president of the Moot Court Board and cochair of Women of Stanford Law. After law school, she clerked for Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana and practiced as a commercial litigator for several years at the New York City law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler LLP. She also served as acting assistant professor of lawyering at New York University School of Law, where she taught lawyering skills, including legal research, writing, oral advocacy, mediation, negotiation, and client counseling. She is a member of the New York State Bar and the United States Supreme Court Bar.
Dean Carpenter has extensive experience in institution-building; her talent for driving initiatives from concept to execution has helped to establish successful programs in law schools and universities. She has spearheaded the creation of innovative academic programs, including experiential learning, industry partnerships, joint degrees, study abroad, conferences and symposia, certificate programs, and interdisciplinary programs. Most recently, she led the creation of the Hybrid JD in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Information Law, the only ABA-accredited hybrid JD in a specialized area of the law. A hallmark of her leadership is a collaborative and student-centered approach.
She writes and publishes in the area of intellectual property and innovation, including the book Evolving Economies: The Role of Law in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2012). She has written multiple book chapters and published works in the Hastings Law Journal, Fordham Law Review, Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts, Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, and Yale Journal of Human Rights and Development.
Dean Carpenter believes that learning best takes place at the intersection of theory, policy, and practice. She has received multiple awards for her dedication to students, her skills in program development, and her service to the university and the community, including the Texas A&M University System Distinguished Faculty Award, the President's Grand Challenge Award, the Judith Kuhn & Stephen R. Alton Service Award, and the United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship Best Workshop Award. Throughout her career, Dean Carpenter has engaged intellectual property law with underserved communities such as early-stage entrepreneurs, musicians, and grassroots arts organizations.
Dean Carpenter practiced law at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart (now K&L Gates), where she represented clients on a variety of intellectual property and technology-related issues. Prior to joining UNH Law, Dean Carpenter was founder and co-director of the Center for Law and Intellectual Property at Texas A&M University School of Law.
Dean Gapasin has a demonstrated commitment of volunteerism with LSAC. Alongside her time on the Board, she is again serving as chair of the Forums Work Group. Her other previous leadership roles include chair of the Newcomers Workshop and chair of the International Forums Work Group. She has also served on the inaugural cohort of the Emerging Markets and Innovation Committee, as well as on the Services and Programs Committee for two terms, the LLM SOGAP Work Group, the LLM Issues Subcommittee, two Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Committees, the Information Services Division Advisory Group, the Electronic Services Conference Planning Committee, and the Discover Law/Prelaw Undergraduates Scholars (PLUS) Subcommittee. She is also a frequent speaker and presenter at various LSAC events and other prelaw and diversity conferences.
Dean Holley joined Howard University School of Law in 2014 as the dean and a professor of law. She teaches a wide variety of classes, including Legislation and Regulation, Inequality and Education, Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Federal Courts, and Leadership for Lawyers. Her scholarship focuses on the governance of public schools, increasing access to higher education, and diversity in the legal profession.
Dean Holley has won numerous awards, including the inaugural Impact Award from the Association of American Law Schools, the American Bar Foundation's Montgomery Summer Research Diversity Fellowship Distinguished Alumni Award, the Lutie Lytle Conference Outstanding Scholar Award, the National Bar Association's Heman Sweatt Award, and the University of South Carolina Educational Foundation's Outstanding Service Award. She was twice awarded the Outstanding Faculty Member award during her tenure at the University of South Carolina School of Law.
Dean Holley serves on the Executive Committee of the board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and on the board of the Howard University Middle School for Math and Science. She is a Liberty Fellow through the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also a fellow with the American Council of Education.
Prior to joining the Howard faculty, Dean Holley was the associate dean for academic affairs and distinguished professor of education law at the University of South Carolina. Prior to her career in academia, Dean Holley practiced civil litigation at Fulbright & Jaworski in Houston, Texas.
Dean Kronk Warner is a nationally recognized expert on the intersection of environmental and Indian law. She has taught courses on property, Indian, environmental, and natural resources law and supervised KU Law's Tribal Judicial Support Clinic. She has received several teaching excellence awards, coauthored several books on environmental issues and Native Americans, and has 40 articles and book chapters to her credit. A citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, she served as an appellate judge for the tribe and as a district judge for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe.
Dean Kronk Warner earned her JD from The University of Michigan Law School and her undergraduate degree in communications from Cornell University. She also studied at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. She worked in private practice for several years before entering academia. Prior to joining the University of Kansas, Dean Kronk Warner was a law professor at the University of Montana and Texas Tech.
Job Titles:
- LSAC As a Member of the Board of Trustees
Dean Scheller earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. While a law student, she served as an intern for Justice N. Patrick Crooks of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. She was president of the UW Law Mock Trial team, secretary of the Latino/a Law Students Association, and articles editor and symposium editor of the Wisconsin Women's Law Journal (now the Wisconsin Journal of Law, Gender and Society).
Dean Scheller has served LSAC as a member of the Board of Trustees (2015-2019), Investment Committee (2015-2017), Nominating Committee (2016, 2017), Audit Committee (2013-2015), and Finance and Legal Affairs Committee (2011-2013). She has also served as chair of the Services and Programs Committee (2017-2019) and as an ex-officio member to all Services and Programs work groups and committees. Most recently, Dean Scheller served as chair of the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group (2021-2022).
Job Titles:
- Member of the Maryland State Bar Association
Dean Schroll is actively involved with the Law School Admission Council, currently serving as chair of the Schools and Candidates Committee. In the past, Dean Schroll has chaired LSC's Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee, and served on the Audit Committee, Schools and Candidates Committee, Information Services Advisory Group, and the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group.
Dean Schroll has served on the planning committee for the Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals, the Maryland State Bar Association's MYLAW Law & Leadership Institute Committee, and the board of directors for the Maryland Hispanic Bar Association. She has also served as an evaluator of scholarship applicants for the Gates Millennium Scholars Program, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and the Schwarzman Scholars Program.
Dean Schroll previously served as the assistant dean for admissions and enrollment management at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she also worked with students and clients in the Immigration Law Clinic. She also taught legal writing and constitutional law at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.
Dean Schroll is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association and the American Bar Association. She earned her JD from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she was a Leadership Scholar and received awards for her advocacy on behalf of clients in the Immigration Law Clinic. Prior to attending law school, she graduated summa cum laude from Florida International University in Miami, where she earned a BA in economics. Dean Schroll spent her early years in Venezuela, and moved with her family to the United States while a freshman in high school.
Dean States served as president of the Midwest Alliance for Law School Admissions from 2001-2004. He is on the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Professionals and a member of the sections for Minority Groups and Pre-Law Education and Admission to Law School having previously served as section chair. He is a consultant for the Council for Legal Education Opportunity's (CLEO) Achieving Success in the Application Process program.
Dean States began serving the Law School Admission Council as a member of the New Admission Personnel and Faculty Members Workshop 2001 Planning Work Group. He then became a member of the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference 2003 Planning Work Group and served on the Official Guide Searches Work Group (2003-2004). He was a member of the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference 2009 Planning Work Group and served on the Finance and Legal Affairs Committee (2009-2011). Dean States was elected to the LSAC Board of Trustees in 2011 and served as trustee liaison to the Services and Programs Committee (2011-2013). He served as chair of the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference 2013 Planning Work Group, was trustee liaison to the Test Development and Research Committee (2013-2014), and chaired the 2014 Nominating Committee. He chaired both the Finance and Legal Affairs Committee (2015-2017) and the 2016 Nominating Committee and was an ex officio member of the Misconduct and Irregularities in the Admission Process Subcommittee (2015-2017). In 2018, Dean States served on the Board of Trustees and was the Board liaison to the Diversity Committee. He was a member of the Test Development and Research Committee (2017-2019) and currently serves as chair of the Assessments Committee.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law
Elizabeth Kronk Warner (appointed; term expires May 2023) is dean and professor of law at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law. Dean Kronk Warner was formerly associate dean and professor of law at The University of Kansas School of Law, where she was also the director of the Tribal Law and Government Center. She was previously an active member of the Federal Bar Association, serving on its national board of directors. She also cochaired the ABA's Native American Resources Committee.
Garry W. Jenkins (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the dean and William S. Pattee professor of law at University of Minnesota Law School. He earned his JD at Harvard Law School, where he served as editor in chief of Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. He also earned a master's degree in public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. After graduation, Dean Jenkins clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pittsburgh and worked as an attorney with the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. He then joined the Goldman Sachs Foundation as chief operating officer and general counsel.
Prior to his current position, Dean Jenkins worked at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, occupying several professorial roles before becoming the associate dean for academic affairs.
With interests encompassing law and philanthropy, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility, Dean Jenkins has authored several law review articles and participated in numerous presentations and panels. He has been honored with multiple awards for his research and is currently recognized as a fellow by the American Bar Foundation.
At the University of Minnesota, Dean Jenkins serves on the Twin Cities Deans Council, and the university foundation's Academic Leaders Advisory Cabinet. He serves by gubernatorial appointment as one of Minnesota's commissioners to the Uniform Law Commission. In addition, he is vice chair of the governing board at his undergraduate alma mater, Haverford. Dean Jenkins currently serves as Chair of LSAC's Investment Committee.
Job Titles:
- Vice President for Law School Engagement
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of RISE Alliance®
Job Titles:
- Vice President for Legal Education Consulting
Justin Cruz (elected; term expires May 2023) is the assistant dean of admission and diversity initiatives at Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law. He earned his BS in industrial and systems engineering with honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and his JD from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri. While in law school, Dean Cruz was managing editor of the Washington University Law Review and received the CALI Excellence Award for his work in the Intellectual Property and Nonprofit Organization Clinic. After graduating from Washington University, Dean Cruz worked in the area of intellectual property law as in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 company. Prior to joining Chapman, he served as associate dean of student affairs at Barry University Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando, Florida, and as assistant director of admission at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, California. In addition, Dean Cruz was an adjunct professor at TJSL, where he taught the Intellectual Property Law Practicum course. Prior to his career in law, Dean Cruz worked as an engineer for Caterpillar, Inc. He has also served in various capacities for LSAC, including as a member of the Diversity Committee, HBCU/HACU/TCU Initiatives Subcommittee, Finance and Legal Affairs Committee, and currently the Emerging Markets and Innovation Committee. In 2017, Dean Cruz received the "Be the Change" leadership award from the Orange County Bar Association, and in 2019, he received the CLEO EDGE Diversity Award for his work to progress diversity and inclusion in the legal profession. He continues to serve in various diversity leadership roles, including as a standing executive committee member for the Annual Meeting of Law School Diversity Professionals and as a board member of the Thurgood Marshall Bar Association in Orange County, California.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President for Product Development
Kaitlynn Griffith is the senior vice president of product development at the Law School Admission Council. Prior to joining LSAC, she was the senior director of New Growth Initiatives at ACT in Iowa City, where she helped expand and diversify the ACT product portfolio. Griffith also held other roles at ACT, serving as senior director of Strategic Portfolio Solutions and director of the ACT. Prior to ACT, she worked at Pearson as director of online and technology implementation in Iowa City after serving as program manager for Pearson's Florida program and senior project manager for its Minnesota program. Griffith held a variety of professional roles prior to her career in the educational assessment industry, including alumni director positions at Cornell and Grinnell Colleges, administrative and development coordinator of the Youth Law Center in Des Moines, marketing manager of a public radio station, executive director of the Iowa City Community and Marion Independent School District Foundations, and development director and county advocate for the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Cornell College. Among numerous leadership and volunteer activities, Griffith is the recipient of the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year Award, former president of the Eastern Iowa Association of Fundraising Professionals, a member of the Macalester College Parents Council, and cofounder of the Liberty Fund, a fundraising group supporting access to opportunities for all students at the new public high school in North Liberty, Iowa.
Katrin Hussmann Schroll (appointed; term expires May 2023) serves as the associate dean of admissions, enrollment management, and financial aid at the University of Miami School of Law. In this role, Dean Schroll provides strategic leadership, policy direction, and operational oversight for the Offices of Admissions, Enrollment Management, and Student Recruitment. She also serves as the liaison to the University's Office of Student Financial Assistance and Employment and 'Canes Central.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the LSAC Leadership Team
- President
- Member of the American Law Institute
Kellye Y. Testy has served as president and chief executive officer of the Law School Admission Council since 2017. Under her leadership, LSAC has worked with its partners in the legal education community to promote universal access to justice as a way to build a more just and prosperous world. Testy came to LSAC from University of Washington School of Law, where her eight-year term as dean made her the first woman to hold that post. She also served as a professor and dean of Seattle University School of Law. While dean at UW and SU, Testy founded numerous programs, was named the nation's second most influential leader in legal education by National Jurist, and served as president and in other roles for the Association of American Law Schools.
Testy is a member of the American Law Institute and has served on the Board of Governors of the Society of American Law Teachers and on committees and initiatives of the ABA Section on Legal Education. She currently serves on the boards of the Washington Law Institute and LSSSE, and she is a nationally sought-after speaker, panelist, and consultant on legal and higher education, leadership, diversity and access, and corporate law and governance.
Testy is a first-generation college graduate who earned both her undergraduate degree in journalism and her law degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, her hometown. She graduated summa cum laude from Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington, where she was editor in chief of the Indiana Law Journal. After graduating, she clerked for Judge Jesse E. Eschbach, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Kerry Abrams (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke dean and distinguished professor of law at Duke University School of Law. A scholar of immigration, citizenship, family, and constitutional law, Dean Abrams is well-known for her scholarly writing on family-based migration, the legal regulation of immigrant families, and the history of immigration law.
Prior to her appointment at Duke Law on July 1, 2018, Dean Abrams served on the law faculty of the University of Virginia for 13 years, and, more recently, as vice provost for faculty affairs. In 2011, she was named the Albert Clark Tate, Jr. research professor of law, and in 2012, she received the McFarland Award for excellence in legal scholarship. As vice provost for faculty affairs, she was responsible university-wide for faculty recruitment and retention, faculty policies, the promotion and tenure process, and professional and leadership development programs for faculty.
Kristin Theis-Álvarez (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. She graduated with high honors from UC Berkeley, earning her BA in rhetoric and Native American studies. She went on to earn her JD from Stanford University Law School. From 2006 to 2007, Theis-Álvarez worked as coordinator for the Building Young Minds Scholarship Program for Habitat for Humanity East Bay, where she designed and managed a college scholarship program serving low-income high school students. Just prior to her current position, she was the associate director of admissions for outreach and recruitment, and then the director of admissions and scholarship programs at Berkeley Law.
Theis-Álvarez began her service with LSAC as a member of the Newcomers Conference Planning Committee and has since served on the Services and Programs Committee, Board of Trustees, and the Summer Workshop Planning Work Group. She also chaired the Services and Programs Committee (2013-2015) and the Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Planning Work Group (2018). She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She has presented at the LSAC Annual Meeting multiple times in recent years, as well as at other events such as the University of California FirstGen Conference. Theis-Álvarez serves in several other leadership positions, including as a board member of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and on the UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion's Native American Advisory Council.
Job Titles:
- Experts
- Experts in Law School Admission Matters and Can Partner
LSAC Ambassadors are trained experts in law school admission matters and can partner with your school to help support your recruitment efforts. Ambassadors are available to present on topics such as the LSAT and law school admission at prelaw events and pipeline programs. They also provide individual consultations and training to help schools optimize their recruitment efforts and more fully utilize LSAC reports and tools.
LSAC Ambassadors are trained experts in law school admission matters. Through educational presentations and professional consultations, LSAC Ambassadors provide both law school candidates and legal education professionals with encouragement, current information, and instruction on how to utilize the vast array of tools available on LSAC.org. LSAC Ambassadors welcome invitations to present or table at events targeted to prospective students, candidates, and legal education professionals.
Marcilynn A. Burke (elected; term expires May 2025) is dean and the Dave Frohnmayer chair in leadership and law at University of Oregon School of Law. She earned her JD from Yale Law School, where she edited the Yale Journal of International Law and the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism and was awarded the Connecticut Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund Prize for the best paper in the field of real property law. She earned her BA in international studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her honors included Phi Beta Kappa and a place on the dean's list during all semesters. After law school, Burke worked as a law clerk for the Honorable Raymond A. Jackson of the U.S. District Court and later as an associate for Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. Burke left practice to become a visiting assistant professor at Rutgers Law School for one year and then joined the faculty at University of Houston Law Center. She took a leave of absence to work in the U.S. Department of the Interior, first in the Bureau of Land Management as deputy director of programs and policy and later as acting assistant secretary for Land and Minerals Management. Burke returned to University of Houston Law Center and later became associate dean prior to her current position at Oregon.
Burke has served as a speaker, panelist, moderator, and lecturer in myriad academic presentations over the course of her career, including appearances at the ABA Associate Deans Conference, the AALS Annual Meeting, and the Annual Judicial Education Conference. She has given congressional testimony on matters concerning the environment, published numerous journal articles, and been the recipient of many honors and grants, including the Faculty of the Year Award from the Black Law Students Association at UHLC. Burke is a founding member of the Environmental Law Reporter and Environmental Law Institute Press Advisory Board and is a participant in such organizations as the AALS; the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation; the Yale Law Women Summer Mentorship Program; and LSAC's Audit Committee and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Megan M. Carpenter (elected; term expires May 2024) is dean of the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law. Dean Carpenter is an internationally known expert in intellectual property and innovation, and frequently writes and speaks on innovation in education.
Job Titles:
- Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
- Senior Vice President
Michael J. States (fulfilling unexpired term of trustee; term expires May 2023) is the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Wisconsin Law School. From August 2015 to December 2021, he served as the assistant dean for admissions, financial aid, and diversity initiatives at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Kansas and his JD from Saint Louis University School of Law, where he was president of the Black Law Students' Association and a member of the Council of Presidents. Dean States began his admissions career as associate director of admissions and financial aid at the John Marshall Law School (now UIC Law) in Chicago. He has served as director of admissions at Mitchell Hamline School of Law; assistant dean for enrollment management at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart School of Business; and assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Monica Ingram (elected; term expires May 2024) is associate dean of admissions and financial aid at Cornell Law School. She earned her BA magna cum laude at Grambling State University and her JD from The University of Texas School of Law. Dean Ingram practiced law in the area of public education prior to becoming an admissions professional. She served as the assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at The University of Texas School of Law from 2002 until 2015 when she joined Cornell Law School's senior leadership team.
Like many of us, she is committed to public service and volunteerism. Dean Ingram has served on various boards, including the St. James Episcopal School Board and the Austin Children's Shelter, and as an appointed trustee to the Law School Admission Council. She has also served as an American Corporate Partners mentor to military service members transitioning from active duty. In 2016, she was appointed to the American Bar Association's Data Policy and Collection Committee, on which she served until its dissolution in 2018. Since 2018, she has served as a volunteer hearing panelist on Cornell University's Title IX Hearing Board. In 2022, she was appointed to serve as an Alternate Hearing Chair for the division of Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX (OIETIX).
Job Titles:
- Fellow at Human Rights Watch
John Valery White (appointed; elected May 2020 as Chair-Elect; term expires May 2024) is the Ralph Denton professor of law at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law. White earned his BA from Southern University and his JD from Yale Law School, where he was a notes and topics editor for the Yale Law Journal and participated in the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization.
Following law school, White was an Orville Schell Fellow at Human Rights Watch in New York City, where he worked on prison and human rights practices in Egypt. He then joined the faculty at Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center as an assistant professor of law, ultimately becoming the J. Dawson Gasquet Memorial Professor of Law. While at LSU, he wrote and lectured on civil rights law. He was also a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Insubria in Como, Italy, where he explored the role of civil rights law and multicultural theories in responding to globalism. He then joined the University of Nevada as dean and professor of law, later becoming executive vice president and provost. From 2016 to 2017, he was acting chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
White is widely published, contributing to and editing multiple books and articles dealing largely with human rights, civil rights, race politics, and discrimination. In addition, he has served as a guest lecturer, panelist, and speaker both nationally and internationally. He is a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves in leadership positions in many nonprofit foundations and boards.
White's service to LSAC began with his membership on the Services and Programs Committee (2011-2013). Elected to the Board of Trustees in 2015, he served as a member of the Audit Committee (2015-2019) and is currently serving as chair of the Investment Committee (2019-2021).
Paul Paton (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the Thomas W. Lawlor QC professor of law and ethics at University of Alberta Faculty of Law and has been recognized as a leader in the legal profession and in legal education in the U.S. and Canada. In June 2019, he completed a five-year term as dean and Wilbur Fee Bowker professor of law at Alberta, after having led a remarkable transformation recognized in the faculty's rise of 54 places in two years (2016-18) into the Times Higher Education Top 100 Law Schools worldwide. As dean, Paton led efforts that resulted in a near doubling of the faculty's budget; the hiring of 11 new tenure-track faculty members in three years, one-third of the entire faculty complement; and achievement of 125% of fundraising targets; and he oversaw the launch of innovative programs for foreign-trained graduates, an expansion of experiential learning opportunities, and the introduction of new curriculum in indigenous legal traditions. His focus on enhancing the student experience included a pilot program for onsite mental health and wellness counseling and referral services, a quadrupling of career services counseling and support staff connected to placement rates over 93%, and supports for diversity and inclusion that resulted in nomination by his students and recognition by the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (Western Canada) as a Leader in Diversity.
Prior to becoming dean at UAlberta, Paton was inaugural vice provost at the University of the Pacific in California and held a number of other university appointments and administrative posts in the U.S. and Canada, including professor of law and director of the Ethics Across the Professions Initiative at McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific (2008-2014). Prior to becoming a full-time academic, Paton spent more than a decade in practice as partner in a major law firm, as justice and social policy advisor to the premier of Ontario, and as in-house counsel to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He is a presidential appointment to the American Bar Association's national Standing Committee on Professional Regulation (2020-2023) and was a reporter to the ABA Ethics 20/20 Commission (2010-13). He was interim CEO of the Canadian Bar Association in 2021 and was appointed for five terms, two as chair, to the Canadian Bar Association's Ethics and Professional Regulation Committee. He is programme officer for the International Bar Association's Alternative and New Law Business Structures Committee.
Paton holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Toronto, a master's of philosophy in international relations from Cambridge, and master's and doctoral degrees in law from Stanford. An expert on legal ethics, professional responsibility, the regulation of lawyers, and corporate governance, he has been an invited or keynote speaker for many of the leading academic and professional legal ethics conferences in the U.S., Canada, and England. His published work includes leading peer-reviewed articles and commissioned expert reports on topics including ethical challenges for corporate counsel, privilege and confidentiality, and lawyer regulation in international context. Paton received the Robert V.A. Jones Award from the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association (the organization's highest individual honor) in 2019 and a Distinguished Service Award for contributions to the legal profession from the Ontario Bar Association in 2014. He was a finalist in the Canadian Lawyer Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada four times, most recently in 2022, and was named Queen's Counsel (now King's Counsel) in Alberta in 2020 in recognition of his contributions to legal education and the legal profession in Canada and internationally. He chaired the Canada-U.S. Fulbright Academic Selection Committee in 2016, and is a fellow of both the Salzburg Seminar (2002) and the 2013 Aspen Institute Justice and Society Seminar. He successfully completed the UCLA Anderson School of Business Corporate Governance/Board Director certification examination in 2016.
He was appointed to the LSAC Board of Trustees as trustee-at-large in May 2019 for a two-year term, and was reappointed as trustee-at-large for a further two-year term in 2021. He chairs the Audit Committee and Executive Compensation Committee, and previously served as board liaison to the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Rebecca Scheller (she/her) (elected; term expires May 2025) serves as the associate dean for admissions and financial aid at the University of Wisconsin Law School where she leads the JD admissions and financial aid enterprise with oversight of graduate program admissions. Dean Scheller previously practiced law at the Madison office of DeWitt LLP.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Law at Capital University Law School
Reynaldo Anaya Valencia (elected; term expires May 2025) is dean and professor of law at Capital University Law School. From 2015 to 2020, he served as associate dean for finance and administration and professor of law at the University of North Texas Dallas College of Law. From 2008 to 2015, Dean Valencia served as associate dean for administration and finance and as the Ernest W. Clemens professor of corporate and securities law at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. From 1990 to 2002, Dean Valencia served as adjunct professor at Texas Tech University School of Law, where at the age of 25, he became the youngest faculty member in the law school's history. He has practiced, taught, written, and lectured nationally and internationally on corporate law, corporate bankruptcy, and race and gender issues. During his 33 years in legal education, Dean Valencia has taught Contracts, Business Association, Bankruptcy, Business Bankruptcy, Nonprofit Law, Mexican Americans and the Law, Race and Racism in American Law, and Gender Discrimination. Dean Valencia has also served as an expert witness in complex corporate and bankruptcy multimillion-dollar litigation.
The grandson and son of migrant farmworkers, Dean Valencia obtained both his AB in psychology (with honors) and his AM in sociology in four years from Stanford University, where he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship for Minorities. After obtaining his JD from Harvard Law School, Dean Valencia worked for the Dallas office of the international law firm of Jones Day (then the second largest law firm in the world), where he concentrated on commercial bankruptcy and commercial litigation.
On June 9, 1999, President Clinton appointed Dean Valencia one of 16 White House Fellows for 1999-2000. Dean Valencia's placement during his fellowship year was the White House Office of the Chief of Staff, and his principal was Maria Echaveste, assistant to the president and White House deputy chief of staff - the highest ranking Hispanic in the Clinton White House. Dean Valencia has served on the Board of Governors of the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO), as an elected director on the Harvard Alumni Association Board of Directors (one of only 18 such positions on this board), on the LSAC Board of Trustees as chair of the Diversity Committee, and on various committees of the Association of American Law Schools. Dean Valencia was the St. Mary's University Distinguished Faculty Award (Law School) recipient in January 2008. In 2003 and again in 2006, he received the Outstanding Legal Achievement award from the Mexican American Bar Association of San Antonio, and in 2012, was awarded the Becky Cross Anchor Award from Equality Texas in recognition of his work with, and support of, LBGTQ+ students.
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President for Operations and Chief of Staff
Tamara F. Lawson (appointed; term expires May 2023) is the Toni Rembe dean and professor of law at the University of Washington School of Law in Seattle. Lawson previously served in the roles of dean, associate dean for academic affairs, associate dean for faculty development, and professor of law at St. Thomas University College of Law in Miami. She was the founding dean of the Benjamin L. Crump Center for Social Justice. Lawson holds several leadership appointments in the legal community: Association of American Law Schools Deans' Steering Committee, Law School Admission Council's Board of Trustees, Society of American Law Teachers' Board of Governors, National Bar Association's Board of Governors, and chair of the NBA's Law Professors' Division. Lawson has previously served as the chair of three different AALS sections: Women in Legal Education, Evidence Law, and Law and Humanities. She currently serves as the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee for LSAC's Board, and as the chair of the Committee on the Regulation of Legal Education for SALT's Board. Lawson is regularly invited to speak on issues of criminal justice and race, educating student and practitioner audiences both domestically and internationally.
Prior to joining the legal academy, Lawson served as a deputy district attorney at the Clark County District Attorney's Office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Among other prosecutorial duties, she worked in the Special Victims Unit for Domestic Violence, as well as successfully argued multiple cases before the Nevada Supreme Court, including death penalty appeals.
As a faculty member, Lawson was twice awarded Professor of the Year. As a scholar, her publications include a lead article in the American Journal of Criminal Law entitled "Can Fingerprints Lie?", two coauthored casebooks, and an invited book chapter in Contemporary Controversies: Forensic Technology. Lawson's research has appeared in prestigious law journals. Her article, "A Fresh Cut in an Old Wound - A Critical Analysis of the Trayvon Martin Killing: The Public Outcry, the Prosecutors' Discretion, and the Stand Your Ground Law" garnered Lawson media appearances as a legal expert, and she was selected as the reporter for the American Bar Association's National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws. Her timely research on excessive force cases is published in Powerless Against Police Brutality: A Felon's Story and in Awakening the American Jury: Did the Killing of George Floyd Alter Juror Deliberations Forever?
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Technology Products and Chief Information Office / Chief Information Security Officer
- Senior Vice President of Technology Products, Chief Information Officer, and Chief Information Security Officer
Job Titles:
- Member of the LSAC Leadership Team
- Senior Vice President for Strategic Relationships
Vivian Bowden is the senior vice president for strategic relationships at the Law School Admission Council. Bowden provides oversight and strategic direction for the schools and institutions group, which, through her leadership, fosters and maintains trusted relationships with schools by providing exemplary customer-centered service. This group also develops, supports, and promotes LSAC's products, services, and professional development programs to help institutions achieve maximum operational effectiveness as they build the future of justice. Bowden earned her BA from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and her JD from Widener University Delaware Law School. Before joining LSAC, she worked in many capacities at Access Group, Inc. (known today as AccessLex Institute) and served as its first executive vice president and chief marketing officer. While there, she was responsible for corporate strategy, marketing, sales, communications, and all mission-based membership services, and served as the liaison to both LSAC and the Pre-Law Advisors National Council (PLANC). Ms. Bowden began her career as an admission recruiter for Widener University School of Law. Upon becoming an assistant dean, her administrative oversight grew to include marketing, alumni relations, development, and student services for both the Delaware and Harrisburg campuses.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Law at University of Minnesota Law School
Job Titles:
- Member of the LSAC Leadership Team
- Vice President of Emerging Markets