Meet Gould School of Law’s first Black dean
Tolson is also the school’s first woman dean in decades.
By JENNIFER NEHRER
Franita Tolson joked she wanted to be a lawyer because of the money.
“I had this dream of not being broke,” she said. “I can practice law for a few years and wear clothes from European countries and do all these fancy things.”
Instead, she has led an impressive career in the legal and academic fields, writing and teaching about voting rights and election law. Now, she runs the Gould School of Law.
On July 1, Tolson became the first-ever Black dean employed by Gould and the first woman to do so in more than four decades. Tolson, also the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law at Gould, took the position to replace Andrew Guzman, who is now provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. This promotion, however, is just the latest in Tolson’s extensive legal career.
After studying history during her undergraduate years at Truman State University in Missouri, Tolson moved back to her hometown of Chicago to attend the University of Chicago Law School. She then began her legal career as a clerk for Judge Rubén Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois, and after that, she worked for Judge Ann Claire Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit before joining academia.
Tolson first taught at Northwestern University, where she was a visiting assistant professor in a program that allowed law school graduates to try out teaching before they picked it as a career path. After a year at Northwestern, she spent the next eight as the Betty T. Ferguson professor of voting rights at Florida State University College of Law before joining Gould in 2017.
Making the jump from history to a law degree was an easy choice, Tolson said. Most of her undergraduate historical studies had been focused on African American history, and she felt that becoming a lawyer would allow her to use her historical knowledge to help others.
“I thought it was awesome that I could use my historical focus and historical training in a way to fight for issues of social justice,” she said. “Trying to figure out how to elevate the experience of historically disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups in our country just all seemed like a natural fit to the things I had studied in undergrad.”
But as for why she didn’t continue to pursue work in the legal field, Tolson said the experience of being a legal academic was a much better fit.
“I want to write, and I want to teach,” she said. “I love it so much.”
Most of Tolson’s scholarship is focused on election law. She wants to ensure that voting rights are secure for all, and her move from FSU to USC was a part of that process. Specifically, she said, her position at USC has allowed her to enhance her research.
“Being surrounded by my colleagues that I have now [at USC] took me to the next level in terms of making sure my scholarship became even more sophisticated,” she said.
As dean, Tolson looks to begin her role under the philosophies of having a shared vision and being open with her colleagues and students, something she took from her experience as vice dean of faculty.
“I did ask myself when I came into this position,” she said, “how can I translate my one-on-one relationships I have with the faculty to the broader law school community, while we also invest in this shared vision of USC delivering a preeminent excellent legal education — and maintain our position as one of the top law schools in the country?”
Vice Dean Tom Lyon was present during Franita Tolson’s ‘job talk’ and described her as “a catch” because of her work on voting rights and constitutional law. He also described Tolson as both serious and casual. (Larissa Puro / Gould School of Law)
Her solution, she said, is to emphasize her openness to the community. Tolson said she told all of her students during orientation they should feel comfortable coming to her with problems because she wants the community to remain invested in their shared vision.
“When people feel like there’s someone in a leadership position who’s actually responsive to them when they do have issues and one who makes their time available in times good and bad, then people are more invested in that vision,” she said, “it helps move the law school as a whole forward.”
Tolson also wants students to leave the law school not only with a good education but with the desire to help the community that they came from.
“Being a lawyer, it really is a privilege, right?” She said. “When you graduate from USC, you should be thinking about ways to give back.”
Her second goal as dean is to build better relationships with schools outside of California and to get younger and more diverse students — particularly from underrepresented groups — interested in pursuing law.
In addition to advancing her career and fulfilling her ambitions, Tolson has gained the respect of her colleagues, including current vice dean of faculty at Gould, Tom Lyon.
Lyon was at Gould when Tolson was initially hired. He said he recalls being present for her “job talk” — when a prospective faculty member visits for a day, meets current staff and is quizzed on a legal paper — and was thoroughly impressed.
“She was a real catch for us when we hired her,” he said. “I’m sure there was unanimous support for her hire … She’s done a lot of really excellent work on voting rights and the Constitution, and she’s continued to do a lot of excellent work of course, since she came to USC.”
Lyon said Tolson has been an excellent help around Gould in many ways, notably when she stayed in the role of vice dean for an extra year to assist the school during the coronavirus pandemic and when she led the compilation and adoption of Gould’s “Race, Racism, and the Law” class.
The vice dean said the quality that will make Tolson a great dean is her ability to be simultaneously serious and casual.
“It’s that combination that’s able to get you through crises,” he said. “She’s able to make the difficult judgments that require that seriousness and responsibility. At the same time, when you interact with her, she’s just a really great person. You need that friendly, casual interaction to keep the wheels moving to keep people cooperating … I was just delighted to hear that she was named the new dean.”
In an interview, Tolson spoke on her more casual side.
“I love Beyoncée, karaoke and Just Dance,” Tolson said. “I have a wicked sense of humor. I love to pull pranks on people — watch out on April Fool’s Day!”
On a more serious note, Tolson said she is inspired by her parents, who grew up in sharecropping communities in Mississippi and met when they had both moved to Chicago to pursue a better life. She said she finds a similar inspiration from students that choose to go to law school, as it is a life-changing decision that many cannot access.
“I have such admiration for these kids who have decided to do something different and take a huge gamble,” she said. “They are so excited by the possibilities, and it makes me feel invigorated to just be in a space with them. I find it very inspiring, but also because it reminds me of where I came from.”
One of those students is Christiann Joseph, a sophomore majoring in classics with a minor in legal studies. He said he is excited about the dean’s plan to reach out to younger students, and wonders how current students can help.
“It’d be very cool if she would visit local institutions like little elementary schools that we have around campus to engage students in law,” he said. “I would love to see what she does with it, and also what programs will become available to students like us who would like to help out with that kind of engagement in law.”
Tolson also knows that while USC is a school that values traditions, sometimes change is necessary for growth.
“Tradition is important,” she said. “But I do think sometimes we focus so much on how we’ve always done things that we lose sight of the things that we can do … There will be times where I will have ideas that will make you uncomfortable, and that is a good thing.”
Tolson is already making change and hopes to continue, she said. As Gould’s first ever Black dean and first woman to hold the position in more than 40 years, she wants to make it easier for the next Black or woman dean to get there.
“The purpose of kicking down a door or breaking a glass ceiling is to make it easier for other people who look like me to share in these leadership positions,” she said. “It’s nice to be the first anything, but it does have an obligation to make it easier for the person who will be the second.”
