Aviva Abramovsky has been named dean of UB's School of Law, effective in July, after an international search. Abramovsky will be the first female dean of the law school.
“I do take the historic appointment with all due seriousness and recognize it as the honor it is,” Abramovsky said.
UB Provost Charles Zukoski announced Monday that Abramovsky has been appointed. Abramovsky serves as an associate dean at Syracuse University where she was in charge of internationalization effort in the College of Law. She said she is “deeply familiar” with the Law program at Buffalo and is excited to take the program “to the next level.”
She said she worked hard on special projects at Syracuse on interdisciplinary and professional education. She said UB has a “long history” of internationalization and is an aspect of law she wants to continue working on.
She is the successor to interim Dean James Gardner. Gardner will remain at UB as the school's Bridget and Thomas Black Professor.
Abramovsky is also an academic evaluator for the American Association's federal judiciary committees and expert in commercial law, insurance law and legal ethics.
She holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania and has a bachelor's degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. She is also the daughter of two UB alumni and feels this position is a "homecoming" for her.
“As a scholar and leader, professor Abramovsky brings to UB and our law school a wealth of experience, collaborative energy and intellectual creativity that will advance the School of Law’s national and international visibility and reputation,” President Satish Tripathi said in a news release.
Abramovsky said her primary responsibility will be to students and to ensure they receive the education and preparation needed.
“I am looking forward to collaborating with my world class faculty and advancing the mission of the University at Buffalo’s school of Law,” Abramovsky said. “I particularly want to make sure that the school becomes even more recognized for its preeminence in legal education both in the state of New York and the larger legal community.”
UB’s School of Law recently dropped six spots in the recent U.S. News and World Ranking Report rankings, placing at No. 106. The law school ranked in the 100th place last year and 87th in 2015 and 2014.
“A ranking is only a snapshot of the school at one particular moment in time,” Abramovsky said. “I don’t think this ranking reflects the quality of University at Buffalo’s School of Law. I will endeavor to make sure that the law school receives the recognition as a preeminent place of education, hopefully and that will be reflected in the rankings.”
Hannah Stein is the co-senior news editor and can be reached at hannah.stein@ubspectrum.com
