Russell K. Osgood, visiting professor of law and interim dean of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, will continue as dean through spring 2024, announced Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
“I am honored to be continuing as dean of our excellent law school,” Osgood said. “We are blessed to have terrific students, first-rate alumni and faculty, and a supportive university.”
“Dean Osgood has proven a strong leader of the School of Law and a trusted partner among our university leadership,” Wendland said. “The School of Law carries a proud tradition, and its students, faculty, staff and alumni are valued contributors to the broader legal community. In the fall of 2023, we will initiate an international search for a new dean for the School of Law.”
Osgood, an expert on American legal history who teaches constitutional law and criminal law, served as dean of Cornell University Law School from 1988-1998 and president of Grinnell College from 1998-2010. He has served as interim dean since his appointment last fall.
Osgood is a preeminent legal scholar. He is the author of multiple articles, and his books include “Cases and Materials on Employee Benefits” (with Peter Wiedenbeck, the Joseph H. Zumbalen Professor of the Law of Property); “The Law in Massachusetts: The Supreme Judicial Court 1692-1992”; and “The Law of Pensions and Profit-Sharing: Qualified Retirement Plans and Other Deferred Compensation Arrangements.”
He earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, with exceptional distinction in history from Yale University in 1969. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1969-71 and then returned to Yale in 1971, earning a law degree in 1974.
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