ASSOCIATE DEANS DODGE AND SANDERS SERVE AS FACULTY FOR CRITICAL LEGAL LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
April 2024 — On Friday, February 14, Associate Deans Jeffrey A. Dodge and Shaakirrah R. Sanders served as faculty for the inaugural Critical Legal Leadership Academy. The Academy was organized by Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education. The four week program trained dozens of educational leaders to create and implement actionable plans for institutions in areas such as Title IX, academic freedom, DEIB, and systemic change.
Associate Deans Dodge and Sanders co-taught a workshop titled "Deconstructing the Foundations of Law and Professional Socialization." In it they deconstructed race and racism rhetoric around the rule of law and connected the rule of law’s development with professional socialization. Academy attendees gained critical thinking skills about how to challenge norms and adopt a critical framework in professional practice that considers duties beyond compliance.
Jeffrey A. Dodge, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Assistant Professor of Law and Joseph H. Goldstein Faculty Scholar at Penn State Dickinson Law, has spent nearly 20 years in legal education. Dean Dodge has broad experience overseeing law school and University-level offices of student services, international programs, admissions, academic success, career services, and more. He has taught and presented on topics in the fields of family law, education law, international human rights, and LGBTQ+ inequality. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of educational access and minoritized communities. Dean Dodge is past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Student Services, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues, and International Legal Exchange sections. He has served on the national diversity committee of the Law School Admissions Council, as an American Bar Association accreditation site evaluator, and a three time director of the CLEO Pre-Law Summer Institute.
Shaakirrah R. Sanders serves as Associate Dean for Antiracism and Critical Pedagogy, as Professor of Law, and as the Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar. Prior to joining Penn State Dickinson Law as visiting professor of law in 2022, Professor Sanders was the first African-American descendant of slaves to achieve the rank of full professor at the University of Idaho and its College of Law. She teaches Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure, and the First Amendment.