Committee of 100

Frank H. Wu to head Wayne State University Law School
Wayne State University News Release

Frank H. Wu, a widely-known legal scholar, teacher, author and attorney, will become the ninth dean of the Wayne State University Law School, effective July 15. The appointment was announced by Nancy Barrett, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.

Professor Wu comes to Wayne State from the Howard University School of Law, where he taught civil procedure, immigration law, the federal courts and evidence. He also directed Howard’s Clinical Law Center for two years.

A cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Wu holds a bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. He has taught as a visiting professor at the U-M Law School, an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, a fellow at Stanford Law School and a short-term faculty member at Deep Springs College, a highly-selective, full-scholarship school in California. He practiced law for two years with the firm of Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco and, early in his career, clerked for the late U.S. District Judge Frank J. Battisti in Cleveland.

“ With his diverse and impressive background in teaching, scholarship, administration and legal practice, Dean Wu is the right person at the right time for our law school,” said Wayne State President Irvin D. Reid. “His demonstrated abilities and his obvious energy will be an important asset for faculty, students, alumni and friends in these early years of the 21st century, as the WSU Law School enhances its outstanding reputation for teaching and service.”

The incoming WSU Law School dean is co-author of a textbook, Race, Rights and Reparation: Law and the Japanese American Internment, published in 2001. His book Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White was published in 2002. He has written more than 200 articles that have appeared in such publications as the Michigan Law Review, National Law Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Toronto Star and Detroit Free Press.

Wu is former chairman of the D.C. Human Rights Commission and also has served on the Board of Professional Responsibility for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He serves on the Board of Trustees for Gallaudet University, which was founded to serve deaf and hard-of-hearing persons. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

“ Frank Wu’s enthusiasm and obvious dedication to the goals of the Wayne State University Law School, as well as his extensive record of accomplishments, made him a stellar candidate for the deanship,” Barrett pointed out. “Under his leadership, our law school has the potential to move into the top ranks of its national urban peers.”
Wu said he is “impressed by the leadership of Wayne State University, the extraordinarily strong faculty and students of the law school, and the tremendous support of the alumni.” He added that he is looking forward to implementing plans to help the school “fulfill it mission as part of an urban public research institution.” A native of the Detroit area, he plans to reside in the city of Detroit.

Founded in 1927, the WSU Law School is the only public law school in the Detroit metropolitan area, with 850 students and approximately 11,000 living alumni. Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education, offering more than 330 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students in metropolitan Detroit.