UNLV President David Ashley is pleased to announce that John Valery White, professor of law at Louisiana State University, has been selected as the next dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law, effective July 1, 2007.

"John White is a dynamic and accomplished legal scholar, and I believe his vision and ambition make him a superb choice to lead the Boyd School of Law into its second decade," said UNLV President David B. Ashley.

White's research interests have focused on the emergence of civil rights law and its role in addressing the social legacy of the Jim Crow period. His recent work concentrated on how globalization and migration complicate civil rights protection. White has written extensively about civil rights law, with numerous articles, book chapters, and scholarly presentations to his name. A recent article, "The Persistence of Race Politics and the Restraint of Recovery in Katrina's Wake," was published in the 2006 anthology, "After the Storm: Black Intellectuals Explore the Meaning of Hurricane Katrina."

White says he is eager to begin working with the faculty, staff and students to help achieve national prominence for the Boyd School of Law.

"I am extremely proud to become the second dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law, and I'm looking forward to working with the faculty and administration to build on the law school's record of accomplishment," White said.

John Valery White joined the faculty of the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at Louisiana State University in 1992, and currently holds the J. Dawson Gasquet Memorial Professorship. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Insubria in Como, Italy. Prior to teaching law, he served as the Orville Schell Fellow at Human Rights Watch in New York City. White received his J.D. from the Yale Law School in 1991, where he was a notes and topics editor for the Yale Law Journal and participated in the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization.

White will succeed Richard Morgan, who is retiring from UNLV after serving 10 years as the founding dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law.