UCLA professor to become next dean of School of Law

The UCLA School of Law announced Thursday that law professor Jennifer L. Mnookin will serve as the law school’s next dean beginning Aug. 1.

Mnookin joined the UCLA law faculty in 2005 as a professor. She has since held several administrative positions such as vice dean for external appointments and intellectual life, vice dean for faculty and research and chair of the Academic Senate Committee on Development.

“We’re thrilled that we have a new dean and are looking forward to many years working with (Mnookin),” said Eileen Scallen, associate dean for curriculum and academic affairs. “She is extremely collaborative, intelligent and very student-driven, as well as respectful of and supportive of faculty initiatives.”

Scallen added Mnookin will succeed current dean Rachel Moran, who has decided to return to teaching at UCLA once her five-year tenure ends.

Mnookin was a founding faculty director of the law school’s Program on Understanding Law, Science and Evidence, also known as PULSE. The program invites students and scholars to public symposia and lectures and aims to explore the interconnections among law, science and evidence.

Though her work in academia focuses on evidence and forensic science, Mnookin currently conducts research in social science that is intended to educate jurors about eyewitness misidentification and false confessions, according an email statement from the School of Law director of communications. In 2010, the National Institute of Justice awarded Mnookin and her research team a federal grant to fund research efforts in establishing scientific methods that would quantify the efficacy and accuracy of fingerprint analysis.

Mnookin taught seminars about law and popular culture and classes in criminal evidence and the practice of law, according to the UCLA law school website. She will officially assume her role as dean on Aug. 1, according to the statement.

Compiled by Allison Ong and Jorge Valero, Bruin contributors.