PROFESSOR MEDHA D. MAKHLOUF PRESENTS AT AALS APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE WORKSHOP
August 2021 — The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) held a virtual Appointments Committee Workshop on August 5, designed to provide members of Appointments Committees at law schools across the country with useful information about changing practices in academic hiring. Professor Medha D. Makhlouf, who has served as Chair of Penn State Dickinson Law’s Appointments Committee for the past two years and will continue in the role this academic year, was invited to present at the workshop.
In 2020, the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference—a major driver of law school hiring for 40 years—was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of AALS’s decision to cancel the 2021 Conference as well, it sought to provide a forum for faculty who are involved with hiring to discuss current hiring challenges and strategies for effective hiring process. Professor Makhlouf provided her perspectives on navigating hiring practices during this year in transition, which, depending on public health guidance, may involve a mixture of virtual and in-person interviews. During the panel presentation, Professor Makhlouf spoke about how virtual hiring processes can offer schools an opportunity to recruit a broader, more diverse pool of faculty candidates. In the second portion of the workshop, Professor Makhlouf facilitated a breakout room discussion on strategies to recruit diverse faculty candidates.
The mission of AALS is “to uphold and advance excellence in legal education.” The workshop was moderated by Kimberly M. Mutcherson, Dean, Rutgers School of Law. Other panelists included Eric Biber, University of California, Berkeley School of Law; Michael J. Higdon, University of Tennessee College of Law; Shu-Yi Oei, Boston College Law School; and Byron G. Stier, Southwestern Law School. A recording of the workshop will be posted to the AALS website.
Medha D. Makhlouf is an Assistant Professor and Founding Director of the Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic at Penn State Dickinson Law. She has a joint appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine. Professor Makhlouf’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of health law, immigrants’ rights, and poverty law and policy. Her recent scholarship has been published in the New York University Law Review, the California Law Review Online, the Northwestern University Law Review Online, and the American Journal of Law and Medicine.