The University of Chicago has announced the appointment of 14 faculty members to named chairs. Among the 14 appointments, three Black scholars were awarded named professorships.
Daniel Abebe was named the Harold J. and Marion F. Green Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. He has been a member of the faculty at the law school since 2008 and was promoted to full professor in 2013. Before joining the academic world, he was an attorney for the law firm Cravath, Swaine and Moore. Professor Abebe is a contributor in the forthcoming book Why Comparative International Law Needs International Relations Theory (Oxford University Press, 2016). Professor Abebe is a summa cum laude graduate of Maryville University in St. Louis and earned his law degree at Harvard University. He also holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.
Justin Driver was named the Harry N. Wyatt Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School. Professor Driver joined the faculty at the university in 2014. Previously, he was professor at the University of Texas School of Law. He served as a clerk at the Supreme Court of the United States and later was an attorney at the Washington law firm Sidley Austin. Professor Driver is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School. He holds a master’s degree in teaching from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and earned a second master’s degree in modern history as a Marshall Scholar at the University of Oxford in England.
Melissa Gilliam was appointed the Ellen H. Block Professor in Health Justice. She is a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and a professor of pediatrics. Dr. Gilliam joined the faculty at the University of Chicago in 2005. She serves as director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health. In 2015, Dr. Gilliam was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. A graduate of Yale University, Professor Gilliam earned a master’s degree in philosophy and politics at the University of Oxford in England. She earned her medical doctorate at Harvard University and holds a master of public health degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
