Phyllis Crocker, Associate Dean of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, has been named the College’s interim dean, it was announced today by CSU’s interim Provost Geoffrey Mearns.

Crocker has served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs since 2006. In that capacity, she has been involved in and responsible for some of the most important programs and initiatives at the law school, including efforts to recruit a more qualified and diverse student body and the development of a new strategic plan for the career planning office. She also led the law school's successful efforts to substantially expand the number of externship opportunities for its students. The experience provides Dean Crocker with the best tools to continue the school’s progress in enhancing the student pool, revising curriculum, raising the bar passage rates and connecting students to career opportunities.

Dean Crocker joined the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law faculty in 1994. She has taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Civil Procedure, and seminars related to capital punishment. She has also had leadership roles on many important law school and University committees, including serving as Vice Chair of the 2004 Law Dean Search Committee.

Dean Crocker received her undergraduate degree from Yale University (B.A. 1978) and her law degree from Northeastern University (J.D. 1985). After graduating from law school, she clerked for the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She was then an associate in a small Chicago firm that specialized in complex federal civil litigation. From 1989 until 1994, she was a staff attorney at the Texas Resource Center in Austin, Texas; the Texas Resource Center is a federally funded community defender organization that represents death row inmates in post-conviction litigation.

Dean Crocker is a recognized expert on the death penalty. She chaired the American Bar Association's Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team, and she has written extensively on the constitutional, historical, and cultural underpinnings of capital punishment. She is also a co-author of CRIMINAL LAW (3D ED. 2009), part of the Baldwin's Ohio Practice series.

About Cleveland State University

Founded in 1964, Cleveland State University is a public research institution that provides a dynamic setting for engaged learning. With an enrollment of more than 16,000 students, 8 colleges and more than 250 academic programs, CSU provides a hands-on learning environment that connects students, ideas and real-world experience.

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