DeKALB — Cassandra Hill will begin her role as the next dean of the NIU College of Law July 1, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. 

Hill will be the first African American woman to be dean of the law school. 

Hill currently works as the associate dean for academic affairs at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. Hill was also an associate dean for research and faculty development and director of legal writing and a member of a leadership team with the law school’s acting dean. 

Hill attended Howard University School of Law, where she received her J.D. She also received a B.A. in mathematics and Spanish from the University of Virginia. 

Hill is the chair of the American Bar Association Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Conferences and Programming Committee. She is the first elected African American member on the Board of Directors for the Legal Writing Institute and worked as the former managing editor of the LWI Monograph Series. 

Hill will replace Laurel Rigertas, who has been interim dean since July 2019. 

“I look forward to working with all the constituents of the law school, the campus and university, and the legal communities in DeKalb, Chicago, and the surrounding areas as we embark on NIU Law’s next chapter,” Hill said in an NIU Today article.