Leadership at the Pitt School of Law has seen some upheaval over the past several months, and now its losing its interim dean to the University of Cincinnati.
Haider Ala Hamoudi, who came to Pitt in 2007, has been serving as interim dean since Amy Wildermuth stepped down in January. Earlier this month, the University of Cincinnati College of Law announced that Hamoudi had been named the 27th dean of the school.
Provost Ann Cudd announced in April that Professor Mary Crossley would become interim dean of the School of Law effective July 1. At that time, Cudd said that when Hamoudi agreed to serve as interim dean, she promised him that he could begin a sabbatical at the end of June.
In a statement on the UC News website, Hamoudi said: “As a native Ohioan I have long admired Cincinnati Law’s mission to inspire leaders to pursue justice and advance the role of law in society. I hold in particularly high regard its commitment to student success, its dedication to recruiting and retaining scholars of the highest caliber and its understanding of itself as an institution that advances social mobility and justice throughout the region and beyond.”
At Pitt, Hamoudi has served as associate dean of research and faculty development from 2013 to 2017, before being promoted to associate dean for academics in 2017 and vice dean in 2018. Professor Jerry Dickinson was appointed vice dean in March 1.
Crossley came to Pitt in 2005 as dean of the law school and served in that position through 2012. She is director of the Health Law Program at Pitt Law.
The provost, who herself is leaving Pitt at the end of June, said in April that a search for the next permanent dean will begin in the fall.
In the past decade, the School of Law has seen a decline in students from 623 in 2013 to 508 in 2022-23. The number has hovered around 500 since 2015.
— Susan Jones
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