We’re delighted to announce that IntLawGrrls founder and contributor Diane Marie Amann has been named the first Associate Dean for International Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Georgia School of Law!

In this role, she will oversee collaborations between the Dean Rusk Center for International Law and Policy and the law school’s faculty and students. Diane will also assist the law school with strategic initiatives such as growing its LL.M. program, strengthening partnerships with foreign universities and beginning work on the school’s next strategic plan.

“Diane brings a wealth of expertise and experience to this role,” said Georgia Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge. “Her scholarly record in international law, and her leadership positions with organizations such as the American Society for International Law and the International Criminal Court, make her the ideal candidate to help build on our law school’s strong international programs and the late U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk’s legacy. Moreover, Diane’s former positions at other law schools will help inform our efforts to address the unique challenges and opportunities facing legal education today.”

It’s a position for which Diane’s amply qualified, as IntLawGrrls readers will know from having read her numerous IntLawGrrls posts. Diane joined the Georgia Law faculty in the fall of 2011 as the holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, which she still occupies. Her courses include Public International Law, International Criminal Law, the Laws of War, Refugee and Asylum Law, Children and International Law, and Constitutional Law. She is an affiliated faculty member of UGA’s African Studies Institute and serves as the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s special adviser on children in armed conflict.

Her scores of articles on international criminal law and international humanitarian law include Calling Children to Account: The Proposal for a Juvenile Chamber in the Special Court for Sierra Leone and Message as Medium in Sierra Leone, both of which focus on child soldiers.

Diane’s also been honored for her tremendous contributions to the field of international law more generally. Amann is a past vice president of the American Society of International Law and past chair of the Association of American Law Schools Section on International Law. She received the 2013 Prominent Women in International Law Award from ASIL’s Women in International Law Interest Group as well as the 2010 Mayre Rasmussen Award for the Advancement of Women in International Law, and the Article of the Year in International Criminal Law Award from the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law.

Beyond her expertise, we at IntLawGrrls have benefited greatly from Diane’s energy and dedication to this blog and wish her all the best in this new venture.  Heartfelt congratulations, Diane!