Expert on human rights is named UB law dean
By Jay Rey
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 05/08/08 6:32 AM
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- Makau W. Mutua is a native of Kenya.
Makau W. Mutua has been named the new dean of the University at Buffalo Law School, UB officials announced Wednesday.
Mutua — an expert in human rights law and a member of the UB Law School faculty since 1996 — has been serving as interim dean since December, while UB searched for someone to fill that role permanently.
“I know Professor Mutua’s visionary perspective and approach to legal education and research will contribute greatly to enhancing the school’s impact and, subsequently, elevating its national r e p u tation,” Satish K. Tripathi, UB provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, said in a prepared statement.
UB Law School slipped to No. 100 among the “Best Law Schools” in the country in the latest rankings by U. S. News & World Report. UB was ranked No. 77 by the magazine last year.
Mutua said he wants to dedicate himself to bolstering the Law School’s stature and plans to build on one of its strengths — the faculty.
“Going forward,” Mutua said in a statement, “in order for UB Law to sit atop the pedestal of legal education, I intend to hire faculty with star potential, to raise the academic profile of our student body and to team up with our alumni to secure commitments that are essential to the law’s ambitions.”
Mutua, 50, is a native of Kenya. His government protests as a young law student in Nairobi forced him to go underground and become a refugee in Tanzania, where he earned a law degree at the University of Dar-es- Salaam.
Mutua was accepted to Harvard Law School, where he showed up with only a few dollars in his pocket and worked as a night watchman on campus for four years while he earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in law.
Mutua has earned a reputation in the area of international human rights and has been on many a mission to countries in Africa, Latin America and Europe. While on sabbatical in his native Kenya, Mutua was appointed by the Kenyan government to head the Task Force on the Establishment of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
