Law school names two deans

Professors John Kidwell and R. Alta Charo have been named associate deans for the Law School, effective this summer.

John Kidwell succeeds Thomas Palay as associate dean for academic affairs, and R. Alta Charo follows Peter Carstensen as associate dean for faculty research and development.

Kidwell is the Law School’s Haight Professor of Law. He has been on the faculty since 1972, and his teaching areas include contracts, copyrights, trademarks, and remedies. He is co-author with three UW Law colleagues of the nationally used casebook “Contracts: Law in Action.” He has received awards for excellence in teaching, including the 1997 Teacher of the Year Award from the the Wisconsin Law Alumni Association.

Charo, professor of law and medical ethics, holds a joint appointment with the Law School and the School of Medicine. She is a national authority on bioethics, and the author of more than 75 publications on topics including voting rights, environmental law, family planning and abortion law, medical genetics law, reproductive technology policy, and science policy and ethics. She has been a member of the faculty since 1989.