MORGANTOWN -- After a nationwide search, West Virginia University has identified six candidates for the dean of the College of Law. Each will visit the campus during February to meet with various constituency groups as the search enters the next phase.
WVU began the search for a new dean in September after John W. Fisher II announced his intention to step down from the post at the end of the 2007-08 academic year. The 17-member search committee is comprised of WVU faculty, administrators and a law student in addition to several members of the state bar.
Brief bios of the finalists are below:
* Marion G. Crain was appointed the Paul Eaton Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1995. She is the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity.
* Mary J. Davis has taught at the University of Kentucky College of Law since 1991, becoming the Stites and Harbison Professor of Law in 1999.
* H. Marshall Jarrett has served in the U.S. Justice Department as counsel for professional responsibility since 1998 and associate deputy attorney general for one year prior to that.
* Joyce E. McConnell is associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law in the WVU College of Law. She joined the law school in 1995 and has been a visiting professor at the University of Maryland and City University of New York.
* Alfred Dennis Mathewson has taught at the University of New Mexico School of Law since 1983. He is the Dickason Professor and has also served as the school's associate dean for academic affairs.
* Thomas B. Metzloff has taught at the Duke University School of Law since 1985. He has also served as senior associate dean for academic affairs and was a recipient of the school's Distinguished Teacher award in 1990.