Franita Tolson made history April 1 when she was promoted to full-time dean of the Gould School of Law, making her the first Black dean and the second woman dean in the school’s history. Tolson has worked with Gould since 2017 and was the vice dean from 2019 to 2022.

Tolson has taught at Northwestern University and Florida State University College of Law, specializing in voting rights. Her book on voting rights, “In Congress We Trust?: Enforcing Voting Rights from the Founding to the Jim Crow Era,” will be published later this year.

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Becoming dean was a privilege, Tolson said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. She thanked the community for having enough trust in her to put her in a position with such responsibility, essentially acting as the face of the school.

“It really is a vote of confidence that my colleagues and the alums and the provost and the president all think that I am worthy to hold this position,” Tolson said. “I just have a very deep sense of gratitude about that.”

Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs Thomas Lyon, remembered meeting Tolson for the first time when she started working at Gould and being amazed by what a great person she was. 

“She was on the job market and … I took her out to dinner,” Lyon said. “My daughter was able to come with us … and she said, ‘That was just one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.’ And it’s not often that you say that about a law professor.”

Thomas Fogel Burlan, a graduate student studying law and research assistant to Tolson, said she’s given him freedom to explore and take his research in various directions. When Fogel Burlan was her teaching assistant last semester, he said he had been given opportunities to teach the class; it was a very collaborative experience, he said. 

“For somebody who has this really amazing resume, she is super down to Earth, just very approachable,” Fogel Burlan said. “I don’t want to say she doesn’t take herself too seriously, because she obviously approaches her job and her responsibilities with a lot of intent and a lot of integrity and does take it seriously. But she also just has a very approachable manner.”

Lyon also praised Tolson’s scholarship efforts, as Tolson is one of the best voting rights scholars in the country, he said. The combination of how personable she is, her scholastic achievements and her work as vice dean and interim dean were likely what made her such a good pick, he said.

“When she was vice dean, we had COVID, and Dean Tolson steered us through what, as you probably know, was probably the most difficult time ever in the history of the law school,” Lyon said. “ Dean Tolson was instrumental in making that as smooth a process as you could imagine, an incredibly difficult job. And she did it beautifully.”

Tolson is planning to continue the new building project from the previous dean, a building dedicated to having more space for students and student centers at the law school. She’s also currently fundraising for student scholarships as attending law school is expensive, Tolson said. She wants to make sure law school is accessible to everyone and not just the wealthiest students. 

As vice dean, Tolson started a visiting assistant professorship program to allow developing scholars to become full-fledged scholars while at USC. Now that she is dean, she plans to grow the program, Lyon said. 

“We want to continue to hire the best faculty in the country to teach at USC,” Tolson said. “Our faculty are experts in a wide variety of fields, and our students having that ability to take courses from some of the brightest legal minds is one of the things that sets Gould apart from some of our competitors.”

In Fogel Burlan’s eyes, Gould absolutely made the right decision in selecting Tolson as dean. The fact that Tolson has broken so many barriers is a testament to her character and ability, he said. 

“It does also make me feel very proud that I got to work for somebody who is so accomplished and capable,” Fogel Burlan said. “Just very proud of her. I’m very proud of the school for getting this one right.”

Though Tolson is honored to be able to be responsible for so much change, it also feels odd to be the first anything in 2024, she said. 

“On one hand, it’s sad that we should have to break ceilings in 2024, there have long been women and African Americans qualified to hold these positions,” Tolson said. “But we still have areas where there’s still work that needs to be done, clearly.” 

Lyon is sure that even beyond all the “firsts” that she’s accomplished, Tolson will be remembered for the person she is and her accomplishments at Gould. 

“There’s a legacy right there, just the fact she’s the first in many respects,” Lyon said. “She has the really rare combination of a person who is so genuine and so personable, at the same time that she’s wicked smart, has a really good eye, or strategy for diplomacy … I think the legacy she’ll leave is that [Gould] is going to end up being a better place having had her as the dean.”