"Recruiting talented and dedicated leadership for the UNT Dallas College of Law is critical to fulfilling our mission as a new public law school," said founding Dean Royal Furgeson.
DALLAS, Texas (PRWEB) November 14, 2013
Three key appointments have been made to the new UNT Dallas College of Law. Valerie D. James is assistant dean and director of Admissions, Assistant Professor Edward T. Hart is the assistant dean for the Law Library, and E. Jeff Serrano is director of Development.
The Honorable W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. (retired), United States District Judge, Northern District of Texas, who is founding dean of the college, said, “Recruiting talented and dedicated leadership for the College of Law is critical to fulfilling our mission as a new public law school.”
Prior to joining the UNT Dallas College of Law, Ms. James served as the assistant dean for Admissions and Scholarships at the William H. Bowen College of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Before that, she served as assistant dean for Student Affairs at Bowen.
Ms. James graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2003 with a B.A. in Professional and Technical Writing and a B.A. in Criminal Justice. She received her J.D. in 2008 with honors from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law. She received the National Association of Women’s Lawyers Outstanding Woman Graduate award. She was also named Bowen Student Representative for the National Academy of Trial Lawyers, member of Bowen and BLSA mock teams, and academic success lead mentor.
Mr. Hart previously was adjunct professor of law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. He also served as head of Technical Services.
Mr. Hart graduated from the New England School of Law (NESL). He earned his Master of Library Science degree from Simmons College and an LL.M. in European Union Law from Northumbria University at Newcastle. He began his library career at NESL as a student assistant and later as the Acquisitions and Collections Management Librarian. He then moved to the University of Florida where he started as Acquisitions Librarian. While at the University of Florida he also served as an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching Advanced Legal Research. He is the author of the chapter “Technical Services 2.0” in "Law Libraries in Digital Age."
Before joining UNT Dallas College of Law, Mr. Serrano was director of corporate relations at the Dallas Museum of Art, where he directed the corporate outreach and fundraising strategy in support of the museum’s programs and annual operating budget. He began his career as a reporter for "The Houston Post." Later, he joined the marketing and public relations staff at Southwestern Bell Telephone (now AT&T). His non-profit career includes leadership positions at the Dallas-Fort Worth Minority Business Development Council, The Dallas Opera, SER Jobs for Progress, The University of Texas at Arlington, and United Way Dallas. Mr. Serrano graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Journalism.
UNT Dallas College of Law is a new public law school located in downtown Dallas in a recently renovated historic building. Created by the Texas legislature in 2009, the College of Law is now accepting applications for the inaugural law class, which will be seated in fall 2014.
UNT Dallas College of Law will provide a legal education aimed at excellence in developing the full range of practice-related competencies; be a leader in best practices for legal education; widen access to legal education for qualifying students who lack realistic access due to cost or location; create new opportunities through affordable tuition; and contribute to the legal profession and the Dallas-Fort Worth community. For more information, visit http://lawschool.untsystem.edu/.
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