UA Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Welcomes New Dean
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock has officially welcomed Colin Crawford as the newest dean of the William H. Bowen School of Law.
Crawford officially started the role on July 1.
“We are excited to welcome Dean Crawford to UA Little Rock and the Bowen School of Law,” said Provost Ann Bain. “I look forward to working with him closely to continue advancing the mission of the UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law.”
Before coming to UA Little Rock, he served as dean at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. He also served as dean of the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville, following academic positions at several institutions, including tenured positions at Tulane University and at Georgia State University. He founded and co-directed the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth at Georgia State University.
“I am pleased to join a solid institution with an amazing history,” Crawford said. “Bowen has a tremendous, enterprising faculty and plays a central role in the life of Arkansas’s capital city and its region. I’m excited to join an institution that is already very strong — and look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, alumni, and other university and community constituents to make Bowen even stronger and to help raise its profile even further.”
As dean of the law school, Crawford will oversee many facets at the Bowen School of Law, including external relations, career services, admissions, and the overall academic program at the law school.
His current focus is connecting with faculty, staff, students, and community stakeholders to find out how Bowen can ensure it is best meeting the needs of the community.
“I look forward to meeting as many people as possible, and I don’t mean just inside the law school, but the broader community as well,” he said. “My goal will be to meet as many people as possible, figure out what they feel the institution needs, and help advance those goals.”
Crawford holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Columbia University, a master’s degree in history from the University of Cambridge, and a law degree from Harvard Law School. His academic scholarship focuses on environmental, property, urban development, and land-use law questions, especially in a comparative and international context.
His international experience includes having developed and taught courses throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, serving as the project director for the Environmental Law Capacity-Building Initiative in Central America funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, and publishing books and articles in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Crawford has also lectured and taught in Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, France, Japan, Panama, South Korea and Switzerland, and was a Fulbright scholar in the Dominican Republic.
Outside of his work, Crawford is an avid gardener and cyclist. Having spent time in the region before, he is excited to make new memories in the area.
“I also look forward to returning to a region of the country I know and love,” he said.
Crawford succeeds Theresa Beiner who served in the position since 2018. She joined Bowen in 1994 and has stepped down to return to faculty.
