Darby Dickerson '88 joined Texas Tech University School of Law as dean in early July. She will also holds the W. Frank Newton Endowed Professorship.
Dickerson was dean of Stetson University College of Law since February 2004, after serving as interim dean in 2003 following the death of Dean Gary Vause. “Darby Dickerson has been a major force at the law school for the past 16 years,” said Wendy B. Libby, president of the university. “The college of law and the university have benefited from her leadership and vision.”
Dickerson joined the Stetson Law faculty in 1995 following a legal career that included a judicial clerkship with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and law practice in Dallas. Her career at Stetson Law includes serving as interim dean, vice dean, associate dean, director of legal research and writing, and faculty advisor to both the Moot Court Board and the Stetson Law Review. She is the author of the ALWD Citation Manual, a popular alternative to the Bluebook at law schools across the country. An expert in higher education law and policy, legal citation, and litigation ethics, Dickerson is the author of numerous scholarly articles which have appeared in legal journals across the country. She is president-elect of Scribes, the American Society of Legal Writers, past director of the Association of Legal Writing Directors, and chair-elect of the AALS Section for the Law School Dean. She also serves on the Membership Review Committee of the Association of American Law Schools, is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and is a long-time director and former president of the Tampa chapter of the American Red Cross.
Dickerson has received a variety of honors, including the national Burton Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education in 2005. She was named the Tampa Bay Business Journal Business Woman of the Year in the Nonprofit/Social Services category in 2005, and Business Woman of the Year by the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce in 2010. She has received Stetson University’s Teaching Excellence Award and Stetson University’s Homer and Dolly Hand Award for Excellence in Faculty Scholarship.
Dickerson currently serves on Vanderbilt Law School's Board of Advisors.