Athens, Ga. – Stefanie A. Lindquist, an associate dean at the University of Texas at Austin and a scholar who works at the interface of law and politics, has been named dean of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs.
Lindquist, who began her academic career nearly 20 years ago at UGA, is the Charles Alan Wright Chair in Federal Courts and associate dean for external affairs at the University of Texas School of Law.
The appointment was announced by Jere Morehead, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. The deans of the 17 schools and colleges at UGA report to the provost.
“I am very pleased that Dr. Lindquist is returning to UGA as dean of the School of Public and International Affairs,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “She is widely regarded as one of the bright young faculty stars in her field, and knows both SPIA and UGA deeply and well. She will be a strong addition to our very good leadership team.”
The search committee was chaired by Rebecca White, dean of the UGA School of Law, and assisted by the UGA Search Group in Human Resources. Lindquist’s appointment is effective Aug. 1.
“Dr. Lindquist’s record of outstanding leadership in a variety of roles, including serving as an interim dean at the University of Texas, and her ability to garner support from alumni and other donors make her ideally suited to lead our nationally prominent School of Public and International Affairs,” Morehead said. “Her scholarship and teaching have been repeatedly recognized for excellence, and I am confident that she will enhance the exemplary programs of research and teaching that the school offers.”
As associate dean for external affairs for the University of Texas School of Law, Lindquist is engaged in fundraising and alumni relations for a law school that is ranked fourth among public universities and 15th among all U.S. law schools by U.S. News and World Report. Her research focuses on judicial behavior in the federal and state appellate courts, and she holds a courtesy appointment in the department of government. She joined the UT Austin School of Law in 2008 and also has served as its interim dean and associate dean for academic affairs.
She is the author or co-author of more than 50 journal articles, book chapters, essays and legal notes, as well as two books. In “Measuring Judicial Activism” (Oxford University Press, 2009) she and co-author Frank Cross identified objective, empirical measures of judicial activism on the United States Supreme Court. In her 2006 book, “Judging on a Collegial Court: Influences on Appellate Court Decision Making” (University of Virginia Press), Lindquist and her co-authors evaluated factors that influenced circuit court judges’ decisions to dissent, concur and reverse the lower court.
Prior to joining the UT Austin School of Law, she was an associate professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, with a primary appointment in the department of political science. She started her academic career at UGA in 1996, joining the department of political science as well as the department of public administration and policy, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Law. She was named associate professor at UGA in 2003.
Lindquist was a 2002 recipient of the Richard B. Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, UGA’s highest early career teaching honor. She also received the J. Hatten Howard Teaching Award from the UGA Honors Program and was recognized for excellence in teaching by the graduate student organization in the department of public administration and by the Student Government Organization. She was a participant in the Lilly Teaching Fellows program, which provides opportunities for faculty to further develop their teaching skills, from 2000 to 2001, and later served as co-director of the program. She also coached the UGA Mock Trial Team, was a faculty mentor in the Honors Program and faculty adviser to the Demosthenian Literary Society. At Vanderbilt, she received the Robert Birkby Award for Excellence in Teaching Political Science and served as director of the graduate program.
Lindquist was the 2011 recipient of the best conference paper award from the law and courts section of the American Political Science Association, served as chair of the APSA law and courts section from 2008 to 2009 and was the program chair for the section’s annual meeting in 2008. She is the recipient of two National Science Foundation grants and served as a panel member at the NSF Law and Social Sciences Division for two years. She has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Politics since 2010 and on the editorial board of the Review of Public Personnel Administration since 2004. She also has served on the editorial board of the Law and Society Review.
Lindquist holds a bachelor’s degree from Ursinus College in Pennsylvania and a doctorate from the University of South Carolina with an emphasis in American politics, public law and public administration. She earned her J.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia, where she served as editor in chief of the Temple Law Review.
Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Anthony J. Scirica at the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia and practiced law at Latham and Watkins in Washington, D.C. She also worked for one year as a research associate at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington D.C. assisting committees of the Federal Judicial Conference in addressing questions of judicial administration.
“I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to lead SPIA-a school that over its 12-year history has already distinguished itself as among the most prominent public affairs schools in the nation,” Lindquist said. “Under the able leadership of its inaugural dean, Tom Lauth, and through the efforts of its dedicated faculty, students, and staff, SPIA has established an impressive set of educational programs and initiatives that enhance student learning and civic engagement, and that deepen our understanding of governance and democracy. I look forward to building on these strengths and promoting SPIA’s important mission both here and abroad.”
The UGA School of Public and International Affairs prepares undergraduate students for good citizenship and careers in public life and trains future generations of teachers and scholars in the fields of international affairs, political science and public administration and policy. The school currently is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the nation’s fourth best public affairs graduate school. For more information about the school, see http://spia.uga.edu/.