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March is Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the accomplishments
women have made to our nation as well as here at the University of
Houston Law Center. The observance started modestly in 1981 when
Congress asked President Ronald Reagan to proclaim the week of March 7,
1982, Women’s History Week. It continued as a week-long designation
until 1987 when Congress requested it be extended to the full month of
March.
The history of women at the Law
Center dates almost to the founding of the school itself in 1947. The
first catalog noted “Men and women of good moral character….” were
welcome to apply to the new school of law. The first class of 28 men,
many WWII veterans, graduated in 1950; two years later, Kathleen “Rita”
Keenan became the first woman graduate. Enrollment of women grew slowly,
but steadily over the years to the point where women comprise 52.7
percent of the 2018 entering class. The faculty, which began with the
dean and one other male professor, also has evolved with 25 female
professors, or about 40 percent of the 64 total faculty members teaching
today.
The milestones and accomplishments of Law Center women are many. Here are a few notable ones:
First Women Alumni: - Kathleen “Rita” Keenan ’52: First woman graduate
- Wilma Cupp Stroughter ’72: First African American woman graduate
Women Alumni Judges: - Justice Ruby Kless Sondock ’62:
First woman valedictorian; first woman district judge in Harris County;
first woman appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas in
regular session; inducted as a Legal Legend by the Litigation Section
of the State Bar of Texas
- Rosemary Saucillo Moreno ’65: Associate judge, City of Houston Municipal Courts; first Hispanic woman judge in the city of Houston
- Josefina Rendon ’76: Associate
judge, City of Houston Municipal Courts; first Hispanic woman Civil
Service Commissioner for the City of Houston; first Hispanic woman in
Harris County to serve as a state civil district judge
- Judge Vanessa Gilmore ’81:
First African American appointed to the Texas Department of Commerce
Policy Board; youngest sitting federal judge in the United States in
1994
- Judge Phyllis R. Frye ’81: First openly transgender judge in the U.S.; first openly transgender judge appointed to a municipal court in Texas
- Wendy Duong ’84:
Associate Municipal Judge for the City of Houston and Magistrate of the
State of Texas; first Vietnamese American judge in the United States
Women Alumni Elected and Appointed Officials: - Nandita Berry ’95:
Former Texas Secretary of State; First Indian American to serve as
Secretary of State in the U.S.; former member of the UH System Board of
Regents
- Rep. Senfronia Thompson ’96 LL.M.: Dean of Women Legislators in Texas; longest serving woman and African American in the history of the Texas legislature
- Vilma Luna ’85: First Hispanic alumna to serve in the Texas House of Representatives
First and Notable Women Faculty: - Irene Merker Rosenberg: Professor of Law Emerita; first woman law professor to receive tenure at the Law Center
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren:
Senior U.S. Senator (D-Mass.); former Law Center Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs, 1980-1981; former Law Center Associate Professor,
1981-1983; former Law Center Assistant Professor, 1978-1980
- Sandra Guerra Thompson:
Newell H. Blakely Chair; Director, Criminal Justice Institute; first
tenured Hispanic woman law professor at the Law Center and in the state
of Texas.
- Meredith J. Duncan ’93:
George Butler Research Professor of Law; first tenured Law Center
African American woman professor; and the Law Center’s first African
American woman professor with a named professorship
- Sapna Kumar:
Law Foundation Professor of Law; Co-Director, Institute for
Intellectual Property and Information Law; Fulbright-Schuman Innovation
Grant Recipient, Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program; Law Center’s first
Asian American woman professor to receive tenure, full professorship
and named professorship
First and Notable Women Administrators: - Nancy B. Rapoport: Professor of Law, William S. Boyd School of Law; first woman to serve as dean of the Law Center, 2000-2006
- Marcilynn A. Burke:
First Law Center African American Associate Dean for Academic Affairs;
former Deputy Director for Programs and Policy in the BLM and Acting
Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of the Interior for Land and
Minerals Management (appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011);
current Dean, University of Oregon School of Law
- Sondra Tennessee:
First Law Center African American Associate Dean of Student Affairs;
first Law Center African American Assistant Dean for Admissions
- Laura Rothstein:
Professor, Law Instruction, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law; former
Dean, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law; Law Center Law Foundation
Professor of Law, 1996-2000
- Mary Anne Bobinski:
Professor, Allard School of Law, The University of British Columbia;
former Dean, Allard School of Law; former John and Rebecca Moores
Professor of Law and Director of the Health Law and Policy Institute at
the Law Center
Notable Women in the Corporate World: - Carol Eggert Dinkins ’71:
First woman in Texas to make partner at a major firm; first woman to
serve as Assistant Attorney General of Land and Natural Resources
Division of the Justice Department; former deputy attorney general of
the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice (at that time, the highest ranking woman in the Justice
Department)
- Star Jones ’86: President, Professional Diversity Network; former New York City homicide prosecutor; Emmy-Award Nominated TV Host
- Judy Lee ’80: Partner, Foster LLP
- Kay McCall ’84: President, CEO and General Counsel at Noble Environmental Power
- Dianne Ralston ’04: Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer of TechnipFMC
- Doris Rodriguez ’80: Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth; first Hispanic woman partner at a major Houston law firm
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