A Woman’s Place Is in the Dean’s Office
Kimberly A. Yuracko
Kimberly A. Yuracko served as the first female dean at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.
Yuracko attended Stanford University for her bachelor’s, doctorate, and law degrees, graduating with distinction. She first came to Northwestern Law in 2001 as a visiting professor before fully joining the faculty as an assistant professor of law the following year. In the years since, she has taught and written extensively on the topics of employment law, family law, and property. She achieved tenure in 2005, and that academic year was recognized with the Dean’s Teaching Award. She was named Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Law in 2016, and in 2018 she was appointed dean of the Law School. She served in that position for nearly two years, at which point she accepted a position as associate provost for academic projects.
In a 2018 interview for the Northwestern Law Reporter, Yuracko said:
I think it really does matter to younger women to see women in positions of authority as they envision their own paths. […] Women have been 50 percent of law school classes for quite a while now, so having women in leadership roles is a reflection of the evolution of our profession.
Recommended Resources
Yuracko, Kimberly. “Education Off the Grid: Constitutional Constraints on Homeschooling.” California Law Review 96, no. 1 (February 1, 2008): 123–184.
—–. Gender Nonconformity and the Law. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
—–. Perfectionism and Contemporary Feminist Values. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003.
—–. “Private Nurses and Playboy Bunnies: Explaining Permissible Sex Discrimination.” California Law Review 92, no. 1 (January 1, 2004): 147–213.
—–. “Soul of a Woman: The Sex Stereotyping Prohibition at Work.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review 161, no. 3 (February 1, 2013): 757–805.
—– and Ronen Avraham. “Valuing Black Lives: A Constitutional Challenge to the Use of Race-Based Tables in Calculating Tort Damages.” California Law Review 106, no. 2 (April 1, 2018): 325–.
Additionally, to learn more about Kimberly A. Yuracko, her research, and her work at the Law School, see her features in the Fall 2018 issue and the Spring 2020 issue of the Northwestern Law Reporter.
