Christiana Ochoa, executive associate dean at Indiana University Bloomington’s Maurer School of Law, has been named interim dean starting July 1. Ochoa is the Class of 1950 Herman B Wells Endowed Professor at the Maurer School of Law and serves as the founding academic director for the IU Mexico Gateway, IU’s office in Latin America. She is the first Latina to hold a decanal title at the Law School.
“Professor Christiana Ochoa comes highly recommended by her colleagues and I am grateful that she has agreed to serve as interim dean of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law,” said Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav. “Her experiences as a human rights attorney, corporate attorney, founding center director, professor, and academic leader have prepared her for the complexities of this role.”
In addition to her current administrative roles, Ochoa has served as associate vice provost for faculty and academic affairs for the IU Bloomington campus (2014-2017), as associate dean for research and academic affairs (2017-2019) at the Law School, and as a founding associate director of IU’s Center for Documentary Research and Practice (2015-present).
Ochoa’s scholarly and teaching contributions have been significant. Her theoretical and empirical research contributes to the fields of business and human rights, law and development, international finance, and foreign direct investment. She has taught Contracts, International Law, International Business Transactions, Human Rights, and Law and Development, and her scholarship in these areas has been published in the nation’s top law journals. In 2014 she directed a documentary film, Otra Cosa No Hay. She has also served in national leadership roles with the American Society of International Law and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), including serving as chair of the AALS Section on International Law and chair of the AALS Section on International Human Rights Law.
Prior to entering academia, Ochoa worked several years with the multinational law firm Clifford Chance in its London and New York offices. She holds B.A. degrees (in History and American Culture) from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
“I am honored to be asked to serve as interim dean for the Maurer School of Law,” Ochoa said. “We have an extraordinary faculty, dedicated and gifted staff, and tremendously engaged students and alumni. I look forward to working with all in the community to continue to advance the Law School’s mission in this interim period.”
After more than eight years in the role, Dean Austen Parrish announced on April 7 that he is stepping down from the deanship to take on the same position with the University of California, Irvine School of Law.
“Christy will be an excellent leader for the Maurer School of Law as the university launches a search for our new dean,” Parrish said. “Her appointment by Provost Shrivastav was supported by the unanimous recommendation of our elected Policy Committee, the school’s Board of Visitors, and our senior staff leaders. Christy is widely admired by our colleagues here and has played a key role in shaping the school’s strategic vision. I can’t imagine the Law School being in better hands.”
Shrivastav thanked Parrish for his leadership of the school since 2014.
“Dean Parrish’s successful eight-year tenure at Maurer has positioned the school for even greater success,” he said. “He has forged partnerships with nearly 30 external institutions to increase diversity among the student body; led a $60 million capital campaign; and expanded the school’s interdisciplinary degree programs, to name just a few of his many accomplishments.”
As Ochoa steps into the interim dean role, she will be supported by a talented senior leadership team. Professor Donna Nagy will step back into the interim Executive Associate Dean role (a position she held with distinction from 2013-2019 and again in 2020-21). Professors Deborah Widiss and Ryan Scott will remain as Associate Dean of Research and Faculty Affairs and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, respectively.
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