Yale University has named a scholar, educator and lawyer as the new dean of Yale Law School.
Cristina M. Rodríguez, the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, will assume the role on Feb. 1, Yale University President Maurie McInnis announced on Friday.
Rodríguez will take over the position from interim dean Yair Listokin, who stepped into the role in July, succeeding Heather Gerken, who resigned to become president of the Ford Foundation.
McInnis praised Rodríguez, a longtime member of the law school faculty, for her nationally acclaimed scholarship, wide-ranging leadership experience, dedication to the rule of law and deep commitment to public service, according to an announcement posted on the law school’s website.
In a message on the Yale president’s website, McInnis said Rodríguez has had a 25-year career in academia and public service, and currently serves as deputy dean of the law school, as well as the faculty director of the Carol and Gene Ludwig Program in Public Sector Leadership.
She has authored more than 70 academic articles and essays on constitutional law, administrative governance and immigration law in the Yale Law Journal, the Harvard Law Review, and other scholarly journals and media publications.
In 2020, Rodríguez was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. She is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute, as well as the Administrative Conference of the United States, and has been a past member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Rodríguez joined Yale Law School in 2013 after serving for two years as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel for the U.S. Department of Justice. While there, she received an Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service.
A native of San Antonio, Texas, Rodríguez earned her bachelor’s degree in history from Yale College in 1995. She attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, where she received a master of letters in modern history in 1998. She earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 2000.
