Law school head to leave her post
Ouellette will step down as president to return as professor
Albany Law School Dean and President Alicia Ouellette will leave her post at the end of her contract in June 2023, with plans to return as a full-time law professor after a sabbatical.
Ouellette, a national expert on bioethics, has run the nation’s oldest independent law school since October 2014. She became its 18th official dean and president in January 2015.
Ouellette, 56, a native of Longmeadow, Mass., announced her intentions in a letter to the law school. The school plans to launch a nationwide search for a successor.
Ouellette, an in-house hire, had been associate dean for academic affairs and intellectual life before her ascension to acting president. Ouellette followed Penny Andrews, a South African native who came to Albany Law in 2012. Andrews had been associate dean for academic affairs at the City University of New York School of Law.
“With the law school moving in a positive direction on all fronts, I believe now is the time to begin a transition to new leadership,” said Ouellette, a 1994 alum of Albany Law, who put herself through law school as a young wife and mother by working in real estate.
“I love nothing more than working with our extraordinary students; I hope I can contribute meaningfully in that role,” Ouellette stated.
“Given that we have so much work to do in the months ahead, I am not going to spend time now reflecting on the past eight years,” she said. “There will be plenty of time for reflection this time next year. I will, however, take a moment to thank each one of you for the support and confidence you’ve shown me and our school. We have accomplished an awful lot together. And we have much work to do ahead.”
Ouellette has clerked for former Court of Appeals Associate Judge Howard Levine.
The school listed Ouellette’s accomplishments as guiding the institution through the pandemic, which required a transition to remote learning; the creation of a strategic plan that “led to historic growth in the size, diversity and quality of the student body;” the graduation of more than 1,000 graduates who are working in public and private firms or as judges, executives, entrepreneurs and advocates; and a campaign which brought $33 million to the school, which the school said was the most in its history.
It noted that Ouellette was the recipient of the 2022 Academic Laureate Award from the University at Albany Foundation in recognition of her work.
In a statement, Deb B. Treyz, the chair of the school’s board of trustees, said: “We are extraordinarily grateful to Dean Ouellette for her exemplary service to the entire Albany Law School community. Dean Ouellette’s leadership of Albany Law School has been truly transformative.”