Danielle M. Conway is the dean and Donald J. Farage professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law. A leading expert in procurement law, entrepreneurship, intellectual property law, and licensing intellectual property, Dean Conway joined Dickinson Law after serving for four years as dean of the University of Maine School of Law and 14 years on the faculty of the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law, where she was the inaugural Michael J. Marks Distinguished Professor of Business Law.
Prior to her deanships, Dean Conway was a member of the faculties at the Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. She also served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Australia and later as Chair in Law at LaTrobe University, Faculty of Law & Management in Australia. Dean Conway is the author or editor of six books and casebooks as well as numerous book chapters, articles, and essays. Her scholarly agenda and speeches have focused on, among other areas, advocating for public education and for actualizing the rights of marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples, minoritized people, and members of rural communities. Dean Conway’s most recent publication focuses on different aspects of building an antiracist law school, legal academy, and legal profession through leadership, vision priorities, and transformational diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused admissions and faculty and staff recruitment and retention.
Dean Conway is the co-recipient of the inaugural Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) Impact Award, which honors individuals who have had a significant, positive impact on legal education or the legal profession. Dean Conway received this recognition for her work in establishing the Law Deans Antiracist Clearinghouse Project. Launched in June 2020, the project is a webpage for law deans, faculty and staff, and the public that contains resources and information related to addressing racism in law and legal education. Dean Conway also serves as one of three co-chairs of the Select Penn State Presidential Commission on Racism, Bias, and Community Safety.
Dean Conway earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University Stern School of Business, double majoring in finance and international business. She earned her J.D. degree, with honors, from the Howard University School of Law, where she graded on to the Howard Law Journal and served on the leadership board of the National Moot Court Team. She holds dual LL.M. degrees in Government Procurement Law and Environmental Law from the George Washington University Law School. She has been admitted to the bars in the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Dean Conway has been a member of the American Law Institute since 2004. She is an appointed member of the AALS Executive Committee, appointed to the Board of Directors of AccessLex Institute, and an appointed member of both the Pennsylvania Bar Association COVID-19 Task Force and the Joint Task Force on Continuity of Legal Services. In 2016, Dean Conway retired from the U.S. Army in the rank of lieutenant colonel after 27 years of combined active, reserve, and national guard service.
Dean Conway to Deliver Keynote Address at Annual Thurgood Marshall Memorial Lecture (Sept. 13, 2023)
Understanding Your Journal’s Legacy and History, Scribes Second Sunday Webinar Series (Nov. 13, 2022)
Innovative Anti-Bias Programming 2022: A Curriculum for Our Times for Law Students and Law Faculty, Pennsylvania Bar Institute (Oct. 31, 2022)
Implicit Bias/Antiracism Training for LA County, Institutional Antiracism (Oct. 24, 2022)
Opening Keynote, Coalition Building & Intersectionality in Legal Education-Fall Symposium, CUNY School of Law (Sep. 30, 2022)
11th Annual Promoting Diversity in Law School Leadership Workshop, Institutional Priorities, Budgeting, and Financial Management for Deans, Seattle University School of Law (Nov. 16-17, 2022)
Integrating CRT into the Law Curriculum, African American Policy Forum, CRT Summer School (Jul. 22, 2022)
Legal Education in a Post-COVID World, Law & Society Annual Meeting (Jul. 15, 2022)
MacArthur Foundation President’s Speaker Series, Antiracism in Legal Education (June 29, 2022)
Practicing Law Institute, Antiracist Lawyering: Building an Antiracist-Centered Practice from Hiring to Client Development to Advocacy (May 16, 2022)
Antiracism Conference for Law Deans, S.J. Quinney College of Law (May 1-3, 2022)
State and Local Bar Associations, Advancing DEI in the Legal Profession and Bar Associations (April 27, 2022)
Cipriani & Werner Law Firm Retreat, Antiracism and DEI in Legal Education and the Profession (April 22, 2022)
Building a Better Legal Profession: Pathways to Bar Licensure Conference, Mitchell-Hamline School of Law (April 22, 2022)
Santa Clara Law Review Symposium-What to Expect in the Post-Pandemic New Normal: The Legal and Policy Issues of Returning to Work and Educating Learners in the “New Normal” (April 1, 2022)
Boston University School of Law Critical Race Theory Colloquium: Black Women’s Suffrage, the Nineteenth Amendment, and the Duality of a Movement (March 30, 2022)
Post & Schell, Women’s History Month Program & Award Ceremony March 24, 2022)
Penn State University More Rivers to Cross II Forum (March 22, 2022)
A Briefing with Black Leaders: Dickinson Law Edition (March 17, 2022)
Moderating Book Author Discussion with Elie Mystal: Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, Philadelphia Free Library Book Event, Taped by CNN (March 15, 2022)
Cumberland County Bar Association Lunch & Learn: Antiracism in Legal Education and the Profession (March 11, 2022)
Dickinson College, Transforming Conflict: Rethinking War, Justice, and Peace (March 1, 2022)
UConn Law Training on Building an Antiracist Law School and Legal Academy (Feb. 28, 2022)
Faegre & Drinker Dr. MLK, Jr. Commemoration Program Guest Speaker (Jan. 19, 2022)
Penn State College of Medicine and Penn State Dickinson Law, Health Justice Summit (Dec. 12, 2021)
Business Lawyers Institute/Virtual session on DEI with Rodney Akers (Nov. 10, 2021)
PA Bar Association, Women in the Profession Retreat CLE “Black Women in the Suffrage Movement” (Nov. 5 and 6, 2021)
Utah Law Review Symposium, #IncludeTheirStories: Rethinking, Reimagining, and Reshaping Legal Education, Keynote Address - Antiracism in Legal Education: Toward a Thick Vision of Systemic Equity (Nov 5, 2021)
Southwestern Law Review Symposium “Unequal Profession” Panelist (Oct 15, 2021)
Equal Justice Works Session/Virtual Leadership Development Training, Keynote Speaker: Antiracism in Legal Education (Oct 13, 2021)
2021 Richard J. Childress Memorial Lecture: Critical Race Theory, St. Louis University Law (Oct 8, 2021)
PA Bar Association, Minority Attorney Conference/Virtual (Oct 7, 2021)
Best Practices for Enhancing Diversity in the Appointments Process Workshop, Texas A&M University School of Law (Oct 4, 2021)
