Rather than approve as comment a recent IntLawGrrls post, I wish to thank Karen Hoffman and other ‘Grrls for their good wishes, apparent in the title of that post: You go ‘Grrl! Diane Marie Amann named Georgia Law Associate Dean for International Programs and Strategic Initiatives. It recounts what for me is most welcome news: Our new Georgia Law Dean, Bo Rutledge, has appointed me to the Associate Deanship described in the post’s title.

My deep thanks to the post’s author, Karen Hoffman, and from the many IntLawGrrls and others who’ve sent congratulations. I look forward to drawing on your support and good counsel as we work to continue Georgia Law’s international law tradition, which began in 1940, when Sigmund Cohn, a Berlin judge driven out of his homeland by Nazi policies, joined the faculty and began teaching international law. Other landmarks included the establishment in 1977 of the Dean Rusk Center for International Law & Policy – named, of course, after the former U.S. Secretary of State who taught here after retiring from government service – and the arrival of the 1st holder of my Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, Louis B. Sohn. These are but 2 of the brilliant international lawyers who’ve taught here (today’s cohort includes Dean Rutledge and my colleagues Harlan Cohen and Tim Meyer).

They’ve prepared students for brilliant careers. Alums include: Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Luis A. Aguilar, a member of the Securities & Exchange Commission; Federal Trial Judge Valerie Caproni, former Chief Counsel of the FBI; William V. Roebuck, U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain; U.S. Navy Cmdr. Walter Ruiz, who represents one of the five 9/11 defendants before the Guantanamo military commissions; Kit Traub, Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs (Acting), U.S. Embassy, London; Kannan Rajarathinam, Political Affairs Officer at UN Assistance Mission for Iraq; Charles A. Allen, Deputy General Counsel for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Defense; Kiran Ahuja, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders; and Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Legal Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross.

I look forward to contributing to this grand tradition.