Rutgers Law School Welcomes 1st Female, Black, LGBT Dean

NEWARK, NJ — The Rutgers Law School officially welcomed its first female, African-American and LGBT law dean to ring in the new year: Kimberly Mutcherson.

According to Rutgers University spokespeople, David Lopez at the Rutgers Newark campus will embark on a partnership at the helm of the noted law school with Mutcherson, who will serve as co-dean of the Rutgers Law School in Camden.

When her appointment took effect on Jan. 1, 2019, Mutcherson – a “noted bioethics and health law scholar and higher education leader” – became the first female, the first African-American and the first LGBT law dean at Rutgers, school administrators said.

A Collingswood resident, Mutcherson joined Rutgers University–Camden as an assistant professor in 2002. She was promoted to associate professor in 2005 and to professor in 2013. She has served as vice dean since 2015.

Rutgers University–Camden Chancellor Phoebe Haddon lauded Mutcherson as a “proven and capable administrator with an energetic vision of the role of the law in building careers, advancing research and serving communities.”

“I am thrilled to be able to continue my service to Rutgers Law as co-dean,” Mutcherson said. “Working with David Lopez, I know that our institution has a very bright future and will continue to provide a high-quality legal education and produce lawyers who change the profession and the world for the better.”

Rutgers University provided the following summary of Mutcherson’s impressive resume:

“At Rutgers Law, she teaches Bioethics, Babies and Babymaking, Family Law, South African Constitutional Law, and Torts, among other courses. She spearheaded an effort to increase the availability of academic support for Rutgers Law students and has served as a member of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program Advisory Board and as faculty advisor for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender student organization (OUTLaws) and Black Law Students Association.

“A noted scholar on issues related to reproductive justice, assisted reproduction, and abortion, she is the author of numerous articles on the topics in publications including the Columbia Journal of Gender And Law, the Cornell Journal of Law & Public Policy, Indiana Law Journal, the Hastings Center Report, and the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics. She is the co-author of the forthcoming book Assisted Reproductive Justice (University of California Press) and the editor of the book Rewriting Reproductive Justice: Feminist Judgments and Reproductive Justice (Cambridge University Press).

“She has served as a visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. In 2013, she received the Center for Reproductive Rights Innovation in Scholarship Award.

“Prior to joining Rutgers Law School, Mutcherson was a consulting attorney with the Center for Reproductive Rights and a Fellow and then staff attorney with the HIV Law Project, both in New York.

“She serves on the advisory boards of the Lawyering Project and the What We Know Project and has served on the Women’s Law Project board.

“In 1997, Mutcherson earned her juris doctor from Columbia Law School, where she was a Stone Scholar and received the Rosemann Prize for her commitment to public interest law. She also earned the Kirkland & Ellis public interest fellowship and co-founded the Women of Color Coalition. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994.”

• See related article: Newark Welcomes 1st Latino School Superintendent In 163 Years
• See related article: US Senate Committee Had 1 Black Member In 200 Years (Until Now)

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Photo: Rutgers University