New Dean of Law for UCT

New UCT Dean of Law, Professor Penelope Penny Andrews

In his announcement of this appointment to the campus community on Tuesday, 30 June 2015, Vice-Chancellor Dr Max Price said: "Professor Andrews is a noted human rights scholar and advocate, and is currently the President and professor of law at Albany Law School in the state of New York, USA, having formerly served as President and Dean. She is the first female president and dean for the school since it opened in 1851. She was previously the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the City University of New York School of Law (CUNY), where she also sat on the Senate. Prior to joining CUNY, she was a professor of law and Director of International Studies at Valparaiso Law School in Indiana, USA."

Professor Andrews earned her BA in 1980 (majoring in Economic History; Comparative African Government and Administration) and her LLB in 1982 from the then-University of Natal in Durban. In 1984 she received an LLM from Columbia University School of Law in New York.

Professor Andrews began her teaching career more than two decades ago at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. She has been tenured at four law schools (one in Australia and three in the USA) and has served on significant law school committees and the boards of public interest legal organisations as well as on business councils. She has been a member of and has chaired several accreditation site teams for the American Bar Association's section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar. She is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Professor Andrews has published four books and more than 50 articles and book chapters focusing on international human rights law, comparative constitutional law, gender and racial equality, and the judiciary. Her most recent book, From Cape Town to Kabul: Rethinking Strategies for Pursuing Women's Human Rights, was published by Ashgate in 2012.

Professor Andrews will replace Professor PJ Schwikkard, whose term comes to an end and who has been Dean of Law at UCT since January 2009. Dr Price said: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Schwikkard for her excellent management of the faculty and to wish her a happy transition back into full-time legal scholarship."