Michael Andrew Fitts (born March 1, 1953)[1][2] is an American legal scholar. He serves as the current president of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana and the Judge Rene H. Himel Professor of Law at the Tulane University School of Law.
Michael Fitts | |
|---|---|
 Fitts in 2014 | |
| 15th President of Tulane University | |
| Assumed office July 1, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | Scott Cowen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 1, 1953 |
| Education | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (JD) |
Fitts is a former dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Education
editFitts received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1975.[3][2] Inspired by To Kill a Mockingbird and its heroic protagonist Atticus Finch, he attended Yale Law School. Fitts was editor of The Yale Law Journal and received a Juris Doctor in 1979.[3]
Career
editLaw career
editFitts served as a clerk for federal judge and civil rights advocate Leon Higginbotham, who became a mentor to him.[3] He then worked as an attorney in the United States Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, where he served as outside counsel to the President, the White House, and the Cabinet.[3]
Academic administration
editUniversity of Pennsylvania
editHis teaching career began at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985.[4] Fitts served 14 years as dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, from 2000 to 2014, where he was recognized for greatly increasing the school's offerings in interdisciplinary education.[4] He also presided over a quadrupling of Penn Law's endowment, a more than 40 percent increase in the size of the Law School faculty and a doubling of all forms of student financial aid.[4] Fitts also oversaw the rebuilding or renovation of the entire Law School campus.[4] In recognition of his accomplishments, the Penn Law School's Board of Overseers named a faculty chair, a scholarship and an auditorium at the school in his honor.[4]
Fitts has written extensively on presidential power, separation of powers, executive branch decision-making, improving the structure of political parties and administrative law. He served as president of the American Law Deans Association.[4]
Tulane University
editFitts became president of Tulane in July 2014. Fitts launched task forces for interdisciplinary collaboration.[3] In May 2018, he had an approval rating of 97.3%.[5]
Fitts has initiated a campus master planning process redesigned to promote connections.[3]
Honors
edit- Beacon Award for Public Service (2014)[3]
- Urban Leadership Award, Urban Institute (2014)[3]
- Michael A. Fitts Distinguished Professor of Law (2013)[3]
- Named one of the "Nine Most Transformative U.S. Law Deans" over the past decade, Brian Leiter's Law School Report (2011)[3]
- Friends Select School Distinguished Alumni/ae Award (2007)[3]
Personal life
editHis father, William T. Fitts, Jr., was a John Rhea Barton Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Penn Medicine[6] from 1972 through 1975[7] and served in World War II as a surgical ward officer in the Affiliated Unit of the University of Pennsylvania, the 20th General Hospital, stationed in the China-Burma-India Theatre.[7] Fitts' maternal grandfather, Joseph H. Willits, was a professor and dean of the Wharton School.[8]
Michael Fitts and his wife, Renée J. Sobel, have two daughters.[3]
References
edit- ^ https://president.tulane.edu/sites/g/files/rdw851/f/Michael-A-Fitts-CV.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ a b "University of Pennsylvania Law School". Archived from the original on 2001-10-06. Retrieved 2001-10-06.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Biography of Michael A. Fitts, Tulane University, retrieved 2016-10-11.
- ^ a b c d e f Michael, Fitts. "Penn Law Faculty: Michael A. Fitts, expert on Administrative Law, Legislative Process, Election Law, Separation of Powers". www.law.upenn.edu. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ "Fitts pledges funds, expands programming to combat racism in Tulane community • the Tulane Hullabaloo". 13 June 2020.
- ^ "Department of Surgery – Penn Medicine". www.pennmedicine.org.
- ^ a b William T., Fitts. "William T. Fitts Surgical Education Center - Penn Surgery". www.uphs.upenn.edu. Penn Medicine. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ "Michael A. Fitts Named Dean of The University of Pennsylvania Law School". Penn News. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved 25 October 2016.