Molly Land, a scholar of human rights and international law who joined the faculty in 2013, has been named associate dean for academic affairs at the UConn School of Law. Her two-year term will start July 1, 2023.
“Professor Land is a distinguished scholar who has been a stellar contributor to the intellectual and academic life of UConn Law,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson said. “She cares deeply about the law school and students and has been instrumental in developing our Human Rights and Social Justice LLM program. She brings considerable insight and outstanding skills to her new role, and I look forward to working with her.”
Land writes, speaks, and lectures widely on the relationship between technology and human rights. She has given lectures and presentations at meetings of the United Nations Human Rights Council, consults with social media companies on their content moderation policies, and served as an alternate on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Initiative. Her book, “New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice,” edited with Jay Aronson, provides a roadmap for understanding the relationship between technology and human rights law and practice.
She has authored or co-authored several human rights reports, including a report for the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights on the harassment of human rights defenders online and a report for the World Bank on the role of new technologies in promoting human rights. Her current research focuses on the definition and regulation of hate speech under human rights law.
Land succeeds Paul Chill as academic dean. Chill served in that position for two years after serving for eight years as associate dean for experiential education. He had previously served as academic dean from 2004 to 2008.
“I am reassured in leaving this position that I will be turning it over to Professor Land, who has already demonstrated her considerable administrative abilities,” Chill said. “She will bring an exceptional degree of sensitivity and compassion to the job’s many responsibilities.”
Land is jointly appointed with the Human Rights Institute in Storrs. Before joining the UConn Law faculty, she was an associate professor of law at New York Law School. She had previously worked in private practice at Faegre & Benson LLP in Minneapolis and clerked for the Honorable Denise Cote of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. A former Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bonn, Land earned her JD from Yale Law School.
“I am honored to serve as the next academic dean of UConn Law,” Land said. “I look forward to the opportunity to learn and grow alongside our brilliant students, dedicated faculty and staff, and exceptional leadership team.”
