As Judy Areen steps down, she praises the dedicated faculty, staff, and alumni with whom she has worked to enhance the Law Center experience. Her praise suggests a famous quotation by Chinese philosopher Lao-Tse: “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and praise him, worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” Members of the Law Center community, however, feel they cannot let Dean Areen leave without paying tribute to a wise and generous friend.

PRESIDENT JACK DEGIOIA: She has guided the Law Center brilliantly, enhancing academic excellence and building community among faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends. With Dean Areen at the helm, the Law Center has recruited and retained exceptional faculty, developed many excellent new programs, added critical new facilities while dramatically enhancing others, raised more than $130 million in two campaigns, and, overall, deepened the quality of the legal education we provide…. She has been a trusted friend, advisor, and colleague. Her contributions have been incalculable.”

JUDGE ARTHUR GAJARSA (L’67): “Dean Areen has been a transformational figure at the Law Center. Her 15 years there have changed the law school from good to excellent…not only in terms of the academics but also in terms of the quality of life. She’s been instrumental in making the Law Center the crown jewel of the university.”

NATHAN HEADRICK (L’04): “Dean Areen is departing, but she is leaving us with the kind of positive momentum we need to propel ourselves into rightful recognition as one of the elite law experiences in this nation.”

JUDGE JULIAN COOK (L’57): “Under her leadership, Georgetown Law Center has blossomed. It has become a far more important voice.”

PROFESSOR STEVEN GOLDBERG: “Under Dean Areen, the Law Center had a tremendous sense of momentum. She kept pushing us to be better in every way, and she often succeeded.”

KEVIN CONRY, associate vice president of development and external affairs: “Judy Areen has always worked with the big picture in mind, understanding as all successful leaders do, that when you’re standing still and patting yourself on the back, you are falling behind.”

WALLACE J. MLYNIEC, associate dean of clinical education and public service: “She has an amazing ability to see years down the road and combine that with a sense of vision and attention to detail that permits these things to get done.”

AGNES WILLIAMS (L’54): “It’s been a team effort, but she’s the captain of the ship.”

ED RICCI (L’73): “If Teddy Roosevelt was characterized by ‘walk softly and carry a big stick,’ Judy can be characterized by ‘speak softly and get the job done – expertly.’”

JOAN CLAYBROOK (L’73, H’93): “By continuing the five-year plans and putting a tremendous emphasis behind them, she’s enabled a notoriously independent-minded group of people to come together.”

PROFESSOR WENDY WILLIAMS: “I have enormous respect for Judy Areen. We could not have had a better dean these past 15 years. She is a gifted long-term planner, a talented manager and a prodigious fundraiser for the law school. As a vice president of the university, she was a voice of wisdom in troubled financial times. But what has touched me most were her grace and courage in the most difficult moments, personal and professional – the spirit and will to go forward when others would have faltered.”

DENNIS MEYER (L’60, LL.M.’62): “Judy Areen is a gifted academic leader who, during her tenure at the Georgetown Law Center, developed and nourished an intellectual environment that is truly outstanding. Judy is a scholar with a deep commitment to legal education and a proven and effective administrator and fundraiser who understands the role of the rule of law in our society.”