Vanderbilt Law School has received a $10 million commitment from Sara J. Finley, JD’85, to advance Vanderbilt Law School’s leadership in the study of how law, regulation and policy impact equality, equity and opportunity for women.
“This is an extraordinary gift that will advance our understanding of the ways in which law and policy shape our experiences in leadership, in the workplace and across so many other spheres,” Provost C. Cybele Raver said. “Sara is such a remarkable, pathbreaking corporate leader and Vanderbilt Law School alumna. I am so very grateful to her for her vision, generosity and support of our school.”
The gift will be used to establish a chair and to endow a program for research, education and advocacy relating to equal rights, equal opportunity and nondiscrimination.
The investment will also fuel the continued progress and deepen the impact of Vanderbilt’s Dare to Grow campaign, which supports the Law School through scholarships, faculty support, facility upgrades and programming to prepare our next generation of lawyers and legal scholars.
“Sara has long been a leading adviser and supporter of the Law School, and we are grateful that our faculty and students will have additional opportunities to both study and impact our legal system through her visionary gift,” said Chris Guthrie, dean of Vanderbilt Law School.
Professor Jennifer Bennett Shinall, JD/PhD’12, has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Sara J. Finley Chair in Women, Law and Policy. Shinall’s research focuses on discrimination, particularly in the areas of gender and disability. Her work examines how obesity, pregnancy and health status more generally affect labor market outcomes, the gender disparities these effects may have and potential remedies for those disparities. She won a 2022 Chancellor’s Award for Research in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for research on laws protecting women in the workplace.
“I am thrilled that Professor Shinall will hold the Sara J. Finley Chair,” Dean Guthrie said. “She is a wonderful scholar, teacher and leader in the field.”
Shinall was the first graduate of the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt University, earning her J.D. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt. Before returning to Vanderbilt in 2013, Shinall was a clerk for Judge John Tinder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. She earned an A.B. in history and economics magna cum laude at Harvard University and was named to Phi Beta Kappa.
Shinall teaches Employment Discrimination Law and Employment Law to J.D. students and teaches Labor Markets and Human Resources and the Ph.D. Workshop for the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics.
“Just down the street from our law school, women first earned the right to vote when Tennessee became the final state to ratify the 19th Amendment,” Finley said. “Now, over 100 years later, the roles and rights of women continue to dominate headlines and policy, as women continue to navigate a complex legal framework impacting their lives at work, at home and in society.
“Vanderbilt University will be an outstanding steward for this important work, and I am proud to know that future generations of lawyers, both women and men, will benefit from the teaching and programming offered through this new Women, Law and Policy initiative. The program aspect of this initiative has the potential to be innovative and transformative, and I hope my gift will inspire others to support the programming so that we can expedite its development and impact.”
If you are interested in supporting this initiative, please contact Associate Dean Clay Cline at clay.cline@vanderbilt.edu.
