UA Little Rock names Colin Crawford new dean of William H. Bowen School of Law

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock named Colin Crawford as the next dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law, effective July 1, 2023.

“I am pleased to announce that Colin Crawford has accepted the role and will be joining UA Little Rock,” said Dr. Ann Bain, provost and executive vice chancellor. “His leadership experiences and his broad research interests made him an ideal candidate for this role. I look forward to working with him closely to continue advancing the mission of the UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law.”

Crawford previously served as dean of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, following academic positions at several institutions, including tenured positions at Tulane University and at Georgia State University. He founded and co-directed the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State University.

“It is a great honor to have been asked to join the University of Arkansas at Little Rock as the next dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law,” said Crawford. “Bowen has a tremendous, enterprising faculty and plays a central role in the life of Arkansas’s capital city and its region. I’m excited to join an institution that is already very strong — and look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, alumni and other university and community constituents to make Bowen even stronger and to help raise its profile even further. I also look forward to returning to a region of the country I know and love.”

Crawford holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia University, a master’s degree in history from the University of Cambridge, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. His scholarship focuses on environmental, property, urban development and land-use law questions, especially in a comparative and international context.

His international experience includes having developed and taught courses throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, serving as the project director for the Environmental Law Capacity-Building Initiative in Central America funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and publishing books and articles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Crawford has also lectured and taught in Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, France, Japan, Panama, South Korea and Switzerland, and was a Fulbright scholar in the Dominican Republic.

“I would like to thank the entire search committee for their hard work and service in helping us make this important hire for our campus and our community,” said Bain.

Crawford succeeds Theresa Beiner who has served in the position since 2018. She joined Bowen in 1994 and is stepping down to return to faculty.