New Honor of Dean’s Fellow Awarded to Five Faculty Members

Wake Forest Law is pleased to announce a new faculty honor: Dean’s Fellow. Those named a Dean’s Fellow have made exceptional contributions to Wake Forest Law and the legal profession and community. 

The Dean’s Fellows for this year are: Meghan Boone, Chris Coughlin, Marie-Amelie George, Sarah Morath, and Gregory Parks. These faculty members will hold the title of “Dean’s Fellow” through the 2025-26 academic year.

The new honor recognizes faculty excellence and is accompanied by a stipend and additional faculty development funds. Any Wake Forest Law residential faculty member who does not hold a named professorship is eligible.

Chris Coughlin sums up the purpose of the honor nicely: “The Dean’s Fellows award supports research that provides Fellows further resources in which to examine the promise, consequences, and limits of law that significantly affect the public. It supports the premise, which I firmly agree with, that when legal scholarship reflects a commitment to quality, accessibility, and opening paths for dialogue and consensus-building, it can be a springboard for positive social action or change.”

She continues, “I am grateful for the Dean’s Fellows program’s support for legal scholarship. Quality legal scholarship, particularly scholarship that fosters public engagement, is critical to legal education and the future development of the law.” 

“We want to support faculty excellence in as many ways as we can,” says Dean Andy Klein, who established the honor. “Our intent was to recognize residential faculty who further our mission of ‘creating knowledge and educating students to meet the legal needs of the world with confidence, character, and creativity.’”  

Funds for the Dean’s Fellows were partially a result of fundraising efforts to endow the Suzanne Reynolds Distinguished Chair in Law, which is held by the dean of Wake Forest Law, as well as Wake Forest University administration. “Thank you to Dean Emerita Suzanne Reynolds for her contributions to the Law School and making the resources for the Dean’s Fellows available and to Dean Andrew Klein for his vision in creating it,” says Gregory Parks. “It will be tremendously helpful in my upcoming scholarly research projects over the next two years. I look forward to the work and bringing students along in the process.”

The stipend and additional faculty development funds will support Dean’s Fellows as they further their research, scholarship, and leadership. “Being a Dean’s Fellow allowed me to participate in the Yale School of Management’s Leadership Program for Women,” says Sarah Morath. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to further develop my potential as a teacher, scholar, and leader.” Marie-Amélie George agrees: “I am grateful for Wake Forest Law’s support of my scholarship on LGBTQ+ rights, which is all the more important in this political moment.” 

Two additional Dean’s Fellows will be named in the 2025-2026 academic year. Moving forward, five Dean’s Fellows will be named annually. 

“I am so proud to be part of a community of people who care not just about the production of scholarship—but also its dissemination and real-world application,” says Meghan Boone. “Being named a Dean’s Fellow is an honor, but also an opportunity to continue to make sure that I am using my voice to make a difference in the world.”

Congratulations to the inaugural cohort of Dean’s Fellows!