Contact:
Franki Fitterer, ffitterer@wcl.american.edu
Office: 202-275-427; Cell: 202-321-6183
Dean Grossman Announces Last Year of Service as Dean
August 24, 2015
Dear Alumni,
I announced today to the university administration that this year, my 21st year of service, will be my last as Dean of American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL).
The past two decades have been tremendously rewarding for me. During this time our community has further developed and shaped a remarkable institution recognized for the richness and quality of its programs, rigorous scholarship and superb teaching, global outreach, commitment to service, and diversity of its students, faculty and staff, who reflect the nation and the world. Our school will continue to advance in new and exciting ways as we move in December to our new and spectacular 8 ½ acre Tenley Campus. Our new location, one block from the Tenleytown-AU Metro station, will foster even stronger connections to opportunities in the nation’s capital. The Tenley Campus ribbon cutting ceremony on February 12, 2016 will feature U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and attract alumni and friends from around the world. You are all invited to attend!
Given our many exciting programs, vibrant academic community, and the completion of a major campus project to house our school, I have concluded that this is an appropriate moment for a transition.
On a personal note, after this academic year I will continue my teaching and scholarship, and my work in international law in both regional organizations and the United Nations. I also look forward to having more time to devote to my family, and especially my four grandchildren.
As a former political refugee, I am profoundly grateful for the freedom and invaluable opportunities afforded to me by my colleagues and the university community as a whole to help shape the truly extraordinary American University Washington College of Law. I feel privileged as well to have had the opportunity to work during these years with you, the alumni of our institution. I could compile a long list of all the contributions you have made to our school. From the expansion of our programs, to mentoring our students, and now, to supporting and helping to make possible the new and spectacular Tenley Campus facility for the Washington College of Law. But perhaps the most important thing for me has been that all of these are expressions of your deep commitment to our institution, your enthusiasm for law as a whole, and your tremendous and contagious motivation.
I look forward to thanking many of you in person for what you have meant to the law school and to me personally during these years.
Sincerely,
Claudio Grossman
Dean
See statement from the Provost of American University Scott A. Bass
AU Press Statement: WCL's Claudio Grossman Announces Final Year as Dean
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In 1896, American University Washington College of Law became the first law school in the country founded by women. More than 100 years since its founding, this law school community is grounded in the values of equality, diversity, and intellectual rigor. The law school's nationally and internationally recognized programs (in clinical legal education, trial advocacy, international law, and intellectual property to name a few) and dedicated faculty provide its 1500 JD, LL.M., and SJD students with the critical skills and values to have an immediate impact as students and as graduates, in Washington, D.C. and around the world. For more information, visit wcl.american.edu.