Faculty Impact

Our faculty is engaged in a constant quest for knowledge and wisdom it can share with our students as well as with the legal profession, scholars, policy makers, and others, consistent with Penn State’s role as a world-class research university.

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR SARAH WILLIAMS’S RESEARCH ON THE ROLE OF ENFORCEMENT AT THE SEC AND THE PCAOB HAS BEEN PUBLISHED BY ST. JOHN’S LAW REVIEW

March 2025 — Professor Sarah Williams’s article, “Regulatory Personhood: The Elixir for Redundancy Between the SEC and the PCAOB,” is now in print. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR WILLIAMS PRESENTS HER CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT ON AUDITOR REGULATION AT THE 2024 WOMEN IN LAW AND FINANCE CONFERENCE IN PHILADELPHIA

September 2024 — Professor Sarah Williams attended the 3rd Annual Women in Law and Finance Conference, co-sponsored by the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy & Regulation and the U Penn Carey Law Institute for Law and Economics’ Women in Business Law Initiative in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 26-27. Professor Williams presented a draft of her current work-in-progress, Transparency Transition in Auditor Oversight, which is the third installment in Professor Williams’ exploration of the regulatory scheme created for public company auditors under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR WILLIAMS PRESENTS HER CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT ON AUDITOR REGULATION AT THE 2024 NATIONAL BUSINESS LAW SCHOLARS CONFERENCE

September 2024 — Professor Sarah Williams attended the 2024 National Business Law Scholars Conference held at the UC Davis School of Law June 24-25. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR WILLIAMS SPEAKS WITH FOX56 NEWS ABOUT JUNETEENTH

June 2024 — Professor Sarah J. Williams spoke about the importance of Juneteenth with reporter Taylor Whartnaby of Fox56 News on June 19, 2024. Professor Williams discussed the advancements made by African-Americans since emancipation, and the opportunity to celebrate those victories on Juneteenth. She noted the need for legislation to address the wealth gap that continues to burden African-Americans in the United States and expressed her desire to see Juneteenth as a universally celebrated, paid holiday. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR SARAH J. WILLIAMS JOINS OTHER DISTINGUISHED SEC AND PCAOB ALUMNI IN CONTRIBUTING TO FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE H. DIACONT, FORMER PCAOB DIRECTOR AND SEC ACCOUNTANT

February 2024 — Professor Sarah J. Williams shared her experiences working with George H. Diacont, CPA, at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) in a biography of the regulatory paladin that will appear in the June 2024 issue of the Accounting Historians Journal. Professor Williams worked with Mr. Diacont on a financial fraud investigation while serving as a staff attorney in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. She later joined him at the PCAOB after he was named as its first Director of the Division of Registration and Inspections. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR SARAH WILLIAMS WRITES ON CONGRESSIONAL TRADING FOR THE COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL BLUE SKY BLOG

January 2024 — Professor Sarah Williams accepted an invitation from Columbia Law School’s blog on corporations and the capital markets to submit a conversational item on her views on Congressional insider trading, based on her forthcoming article, “Regulating Congressional Insider Trading: The Rotten Egg Approach.” Full story

Sarah Williams PROFESSOR SARAH WILLIAMS’ RESEARCH ON CONGRESSIONAL INSIDER TRADING TO BE PUBLISHED BY CARDOZO LAW REVIEW

November 2023 — Professor Sarah Williams has accepted an offer from Cardozo Law Review to publish her recent article, “Regulating Congressional Insider Trading — The Rotten Egg Approach.” Full story

Flyer PROFESSOR SARAH WILLIAMS TO PRESENT AS AN “UP AND COMING SCHOLAR” AT THE NOVEMBER 2023 PENN CAREY LAW SYMPOSIUM ON THE FUTURE OF ESG

October 2023 — Professor Sarah Williams has been invited to share her scholarship agenda as part of a panel of “Up and Coming Scholars” during the November 9 and 10 Symposium on the Future of ESG, hosted by the Institute of Law and Economics and Journal of Business Law at Penn Carey Law. The Symposium honors the scholarship and influence of Penn Cary Law’s Professor Jill E. Fisch. Full story

Juneteenth PROFESSOR WILLIAMS MAKES A VIRTUAL VISIT TO PENN STATE HEALTH TO COMMEMORATE JUNETEENTH

June 2023 — Professor Sarah Williams participated in a hybrid celebration of Juneteenth, hosted by Penn State Health’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on June 19, 2023. Professor Williams participated in an engaging reflection of the holiday through the exploration of topics that included the racial wealth gap, civil rights laws, and reparations. The event was a sincere celebration of that day in 1865 when the rule of law ending slavery in Confederate states was enforced by Union soldiers marching into Galveston Bay, Texas. Full story

Sarah J. Williams PROFESSOR WILLIAMS PRESENTS HER CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT ON CONGRESSIONAL SECURITIES TRADING AT THE 2023 NATIONAL BUSINESS LAW SCHOLARS CONFERENCE

June 2023 — Professor Sarah Williams attended the 2023 National Business Law Scholars Conference held June 15-16 at the University of Tennessee College of Law. She presented her current work-in-progress, “Regulating Congressional Insider Trading: The Rotten Egg Approach.” This research project contemplates the use of the disclosure provisions of the federal securities laws, rather than its antifraud provisions, to address concerns of possible insider trading by members of Congress. Full story