Dean Danielle M. Conway delivering keynote at the University of Nebraska’s Women Lead Conference

CARLISLE and UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.— Penn State Dickinson Law Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law Danielle M. Conway will deliver the plenary session keynote address at the University of Nebraska’s Women Lead Conference, taking place on March 6 in Lincoln, NE.

Conway’s address, titled “The Indispensability of Women in Law and Business: From the Declaration of Sentiments through the Reconstruction and Nineteenth Amendments to the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” will center women as important catalysts for the project of building a just society, despite often being unacknowledged and uncelebrated in this work. The theme calls out the indispensability of women and their vision, passion, and dedication to rebuilding a nation on the pillars of justice, equality, and fairness for all. The discussion will conclude with recommendations for advancing these pillars in our professions, generally, and in our society, more specifically.

It is one in a series of prestigious 2026 speaking engagements for Conway, who was recently elected president of the Association of American Law Schools.

The sold-out conference features leaders in law, business, education, government, and philanthropy. In addition to Conway, judges, CEOs, entrepreneurs, professors, and others from across the nation will share insights on how they have advanced in their professions.

Danielle M. Conway is the Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law. A leading expert in procurement law, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property law, Dean Conway joined Penn State Dickinson Law after serving for four years as dean of the University of Maine School of Law and 14 years on the faculty of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law. Dean Conway’s scholarly agenda and speeches have focused on, among other areas, advocating for public education and for actualizing the rights of marginalized groups and promoting systemic equity in legal education and the profession. Under her leadership, Penn State Dickinson Law’s Antiracist Development Institute (ADI) was created to facilitate the dismantling of structures that scaffold systemic racial inequality by using a systems design approach focused on implementing antiracist practices, processes, and policies throughout organizations.

Dean Conway is the current president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She is the co-recipient of the inaugural AALS Impact Award, which recognized her work in co-curating the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project, a webpage for law deans, faculty, staff, and the public that contains resources and information related to addressing systemic racism in law and legal education. Dean Conway is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the AALS Executive Committee, a director of the AccessLex Institute, and a 27-year veteran of the United States Army, retiring in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.