Dean Emerita Maureen O’Rourke Named Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs
Former School of Law Dean Maureen O’Rourke has been named associate provost for faculty affairs, responsible for the recruitment and appointment of faculty on the Charles River Campus.
Maureen O’Rourke, a professor at LAW, will assume her new position on Monday. She was appointed by Jean Morrison, University provost and chief academic officer, to succeed Julie Sandell, who left to become provost and a senior vice president at Suffolk University. O’Rourke will oversee recruitment, appointments, and compensation and promotions and tenure-granting for faculty on the Charles River Campus. In addition, she will serve in Morrison’s Cabinet, working on such matters as faculty diversity, development, work-life balance, and the University’s equal opportunity and Title IX commitments. She stepped down last year as dean of LAWafter 14 years in the post and has spent the past academic year on sabbatical, which, she says, left her ready to resume a leadership role at the University.
“I was able to work with my coauthors to complete a new edition of our copyright casebook, Copyright in a Global Information Economy, and I look forward to still teaching occasionally, even in my new role. The associate provost job is attractive because I know from my time as dean what a terrific office Dr. Morrison leads…I look forward to working closely with her and her team. The job also gives me an opportunity to learn more about—and hopefully be of assistance to—the University beyond the law school, and I find that prospect exciting.”
“Professor O’Rourke is among our most distinguished faculty leaders and one of the nation’s top scholars in intellectual property law,” Morrison says. “Through extensive conversations, it was quickly clear that [her] strong track record of energetic, strategic leadership, her gift for communication, building rapport, and achieving consensus, and her passion for the continued development of a world-class faculty make her exceptionally well-suited for the role of associate provost.”
