Janet Levit becomes dean at TU law school
Janet Levit becomes dean at TU law school

Published: July 18, 2008

When she joined the faculty of the University of Tulsa College of Law full-time in 2002, Janet Koven Levit, 39, did not have her eyes on the dean's office.

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"I don't think I would have imagined even a year ago that I would be sitting here today," the new dean said Monday. "It comes as a really pleasant surprise."

Her appointment is effective immediately. Levit is not only the first woman to serve as law dean at TU, but the first woman ever to head up one of Oklahoma's three law schools on a permanent basis.

"I am really honored to be the first," she said. "But, it's really not me. The faculty here, over the course of the last decade or two, has built a faculty where we are just under 50 percent women faculty."

Levit said the women who preceded her on the law school faculty deserve a lot of credit for making that a priority. She said she developed a love for the law school and TU during her years as a visiting professor and a resident faculty member.

"I will do whatever I can, and work as hard as I can, and give this job and role all the energy that I gave to my pure role as a professor, in order to improve this institution, to help it and the faculty and the students reach their greatest potential and really make sure that the law school is contributing and given back to the community, as I believe it should," Levit said.

She is also the first TU law dean to be selected from the college's faculty since the 1960s.The 1994 Yale Law School graduate had served as interim dean since October. Levit succeeds former Dean Robert Butkin, who still serves as a professor of law at the school.

According to information from TU, Levit is the 36th active female dean among the nation's 197 law schools. Officials said that under Levit's interim leadership, TU law students scored the highest passage rates for the February 2008 Oklahoma bar exam, and the school recruited an incoming class with the strongest academic profile in the school's history.

Levit said the new class has a mean Law School Admissions Test score of 154 out of 180 points, compared with a median of 147 in 2000.

She said the 147 computed to taking students out of the 35th percentile, compared with the 67th percentile for the new class's median of 154.

"We've jumped dramatically," Levit said.

She also said the law school will enroll only 130-135 students this year, compared with 200-230 historically.

Levit also wants to enhance the national reputation of the TU law faculty.

As interim dean, she created an associate dean of faculty development to help better publicize professors' scholarly work, as well as bringing in speakers and sending faculty to conferences and enhancing recruitment and hiring.

Levit said two new professors have been hired for the upcoming year: former TU English professor Robert Spoo, who went to Yale and became an intellectual property attorney, and Carrie Basas, a Harvard law graduate whose expertise is in disability law.

She said the "third pillar" involves making sure students have the most excellent experience possible, from the classroom through extracurricular enrichment activities, placement and alumni networking.

TU President Steadman Upham said that within a short time, Levit has guided the law school to impressive successes.

"Dean Levit brings to her new appointment many distinguished qualities, including leadership, scholarship and a focus on outreach that will play crucial roles in advancing TU's reputation among the nation's law schools," Upham said.

TU Provost Roger Blais said Levit's selection came after extensive consultation with law school faculty, alumni, legal community members and community leaders.

"I think it speaks well of the college of law that such a talented administrator and accomplished scholar grew from the ranks of our faculty," Blais said.

Levit joined the TU law faculty in 2002 as an assistant professor, having served as a visiting assistant professor from 1995-1997. She was named an associate professor in 2003, a professor of law in 2006.

From 1998-2002, Levit practiced law in Washington, D.C., as assistant general counsel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, and in private practice.

She earned a master's degree in international relations from the Yale University Graduate School in 1994, and a bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1990.

Levit plans not to teach this year, but wants to get back to the classroom next year, probably teaching international law, her primary area of expertise.

Levit said she has received many e-mails from students congratulating her for her appointment as dean.

"Perhaps over the years, because I didn't have very many female mentors, I've taken perhaps a bit more time in mentoring female students," she said. "They've been really uplifting, because I feel like it signals to them that the sky is their limit, that if they work hard and are excellent in what they do and are decent in their personal and professional lives, then they can achieve what they want."

Levit said she also loves the message her appointment sends to her daughter Rebecca, 6, and her friends, "that the opportunities are endless."

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