Allen Named Interim Dean of School of Law

University Relations

Alena Allen

Alena Allen, associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, has been named interim dean of the School of Law effective Jan. 1, 2022.

Allen, who was appointed by interim Provost Terry Martin, follows former Dean Margaret Sova McCabe, who is now serving the U of A as senior adviser for strategic projects and professor of law.

"It is a privilege and honor to serve as interim dean," Allen said. "Dean McCabe left the law school in a very strong position, and I am very excited about collaborating with my amazing faculty colleagues, staff, students and alumni over the next year to continue moving the law school forward."

A search for the next dean of the School of Law will begin later this year.

Before joining the U of A last year, Allen spent 10 years teaching family law, health law electives, torts, and feminist jurisprudence at the Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis. She also served as co-lead of the University of Memphis campus-wide Eradicating Racism Initiative, Memphis law school faculty senator (2020-21), director of diversity (2017-18) and director of faculty research for Memphis Law (2020-21). 

Allen's research interests include the intersection of health policy and critical feminist theory. Her work has most recently been published in the North Carolina Law Review, the Fordham Law Review, and the Ohio State Law Journal. She currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Scholarship and the Peer Review Committee for the Food and Drug Law Institute.  

Allen has received many awards and honors including the MLK50 Faculty Service Award for demonstrating outstanding service to the University of Memphis, the law school and the Memphis legal community; the Farris Bobango Faculty Scholarship Award for outstanding faculty scholarship; and Professor of the Year Award by the graduating class of 2013. She was also selected as a Tennessee Board of Regents Maxine Smith Higher Education Administration Fellow in 2015 and as an American Society of Medicine, Law, and Ethics/Saint Louis University Health Law Scholar in 2012-13.

She holds a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.

The University of Arkansas School of Law offers a competitive J.D. as well as an advanced LL.M. program, which are taught by nationally recognized faculty. The school offers unique opportunities for students to participate in pro bono work, externships, live client clinics, competitions, and food and agriculture initiatives. The school strives to identify, discuss, and challenge issues of race, color, ethnicity, and the impacts they have on students, faculty, and staff members in an effort to achieve a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community. From admitting the Six Pioneers who were the first African American students to attend law school in the South without a court order to graduating governors, judges, prosecutors, and faculty who went on to become President of the United States and Secretary of State, the law school has a rich history and culture.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the top 3% of U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.