The University of Pittsburgh today announced that Lu-in Wang, Professor of Law, has been named Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, effective July 1, 2020. She will also continue to fulfill her role as professor in the School of Law.
Wang’s long history with the University of Pittsburgh reaches back to 1994, when she joined Pitt Law as a visiting assistant professor of law. Over the years, she continued to advance through the ranks and was appointed professor of law in 2004. After a brief term on the faculty of the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Law in 2013-2015, she returned to Pitt Law in 2016.
This extensive, personal familiarity with Pitt faculty, curricula, and operations—along with her scholarly focus, professional service, and legal study and experience—provide Wang with an exceptional perspective from which to approach her new role.
Throughout her academic career, Wang has focused her scholarship on ordinary and extraordinary forms of discrimination and the connections between them, including anti-Black biases, gender discrimination, situational racism, and sexual harassment. She also explores the legal implications of economic and social stereotypes in the service industry, with an emphasis on discrimination in employment and against customers.
Wang has authored two books—Discrimination by Default: How Racism Becomes Routine and Hate Crimes Law, which happens to be the first legal treatise on that subject—as well as numerous articles and chapters on these topics in influential law journals and publications.
Currently, she is principal investigator on the 2019-2021 project Precarious Work and the Experiences of Frontline Service Workers, funded by the University of Pittsburgh Social Science Research Initiative. Previously, through a grant from the Law School Admissions Council, she was project director for the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Collaborative Diversity Initiative for the Pittsburgh Legal Community.
In addition to her professorial activities at Pitt, Wang has also filled several other related roles, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the law school, managing faculty mentoring, tenure, and promotion processes; leading curriculum planning and development; and enforcing academic standards and academic integrity procedures, among other functions. She has also served as Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives for Pitt Law, and, while at UNM, was Special Assistant to University of New Mexico Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.
Wang’s commitment to education and her career in law have been recognized often throughout the years, including twice with the School of Law Student Bar Association Excellence in Teaching Award, as well as with the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award, and the Pitt Law Women’s Association “Celebrating Women in the Law” Award. While at UNM Wang was appointed as Weihofen Research Professor and a UNM Teaching Fellow.
She is an elected member of The Fellows of the American Bar Foundation and the American Law Institute. Additionally, Wang serves as a consultant on the Expert Panel on Contracts for the AccessLex Institute, is a member of the Provost’s Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence, and sits on the board of advisors for the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning.
Prior to turning her attention to education, Wang practiced with law firms in Chicago and Ann Arbor, served as a staff attorney for The Center for Social Gerontology, and worked as a law clerk for the late Justice Ralph J. Cappy of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
She received her Juris Doctor from The University of Michigan Law School, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Bachelor of Science from The Pennsylvania State University.