Law school names new president
Cinnamon Piñon Carlarne is a noted environmental, climate change expert
ALBANY — An Oxford-schooled associate dean at Ohio State’s law school described as a leading national expert in environmental and climate change law will become the next dean and president of Albany Law School in July.
Cinnamon Piñon Carlarne, the associate dean for Faculty & Intellectual Life at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, was selected to succeed Alicia Ouellette atop the nation’s oldest independent law school. Carlarne will be the school’s 19th dean and president, the law school announced Tuesday.
The selection of Carlarne followed a national search. She will follow Ouellette, who in December was among seven candidates submitted to Gov. Kathy Hochul under consideration to be the state’s next chief judge. Ouellette, a national expert in bioethics, announced in May 2022 that she would be leaving her position at the end of the 202223 school year to take a sabbatical, then return as a professor. She has led Albany Law School since October 2014; in January 2015 she officially became its president and dean.
Carlarne, 46, will begin July 1. “Cinnamon Carlarne’s accomplishments speak to her drive and commitment to addressing the contemporary challenges of sustainability, climate justice, and equity,” Deb Treyz, who chairs the Albany Law School board of trustees, said in a statement.
“She is particularly well-suited to serve as the next leader of the Albany Law community because of her core values: her student-centered approach to pedagogy in legal education; her interdisciplinary and dynamic perspective on law and
social change; her collaborative and inclusive approach to governance and institutional design; and her commitment to recognizing and lifting up under-served and underrepresented communities as an institutional mission.”
In an email to faculty, staff and students, Treyz said she was pleased Carlarne was joining the school “at such an important time in the legal profession — a time when her experience as a dynamic leader and scholar will strengthen Albany Law School’s reputation for innovation and public service — and I look forward to working with her and the entire Albany Law community to advance the mission of the law school to be an institution dedicated to equity and excellence.”
In a statement, Carlarne said she was honored to become the school’s next president and dean.
“Albany Law School is a leader in providing inclusive, innovative, and impactful legal education. It has long been at the forefront of educating our next generation of lawyers and leaders and fostering scholarly excellence,” she said. “I look forward to working hand-inhand with the Albany Law School community to advance the type of equity- and justiceoriented thinking that is critical to ensuring that the rule of law remains a powerful force for good in the world.”
The school said Carlarne was deeply committed to environmental equity and social justice. Her work includes articles addressing environmental and climate change jurisprudence, a book on comparative climate change law and policy, a series of book chapters, editorials and essays on the questions of domestic and international environmental law and a textbook on oceans, human health and well-being.
Carlarne earned a bachelor’s degree as a university scholar from Baylor University, a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, a bachelor’s degree of civil law and master’s degree in environmental change and management from the University of Oxford, where she was a Marshall scholar.
In 2011, she joined the faculty of the Ohio State law school. She had previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law from 2008 to 2011. She was a Harold Woods Research Fellow in Environmental Law at Wadham College in Oxford from 2006 to 2008.
Before that, Carlarne was an associate attorney in the energy, land use and environment section at the firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld Law Firm in Washington, D.C.