Called an”unsung hero”of West Virginia University women, Joyce McConnell, the WVU College of Laws associate dean for academic affairs, has won the Universitys highest award for outstanding service to women.
“Professor Joyce McConnell joined the College of Law in 1995 and has served as associate dean for Academic Affairs since 1999,”said John Fisher, dean.”As a lawyer and professor, she serves as a role model for our students, particularly women, and is an important counselor and friend to all.”
In addition to serving as advisor to the Womens Law Caucus, McConnell is active in the Center for Womens Studies as a faculty associate working with its curriculum development, its promotion and tenure committee and with graduate studentstheses, he said. She also supervises law students working in criminal cases involving”battered womens”defense strategies.
McConnell, also a Thomas R. Goodwin Professor of Law, has been”one of the unsung heroes in service to, and advancement of women at WVU ,”Fisher said.
WVU Associate Professor of Law Judith Scully said McConnell is”dedicated to creating a safe and nurturing environment for women to actively participate in and contribute to society.”
Scully also commended her work to obtain a Kellogg Foundation grant that provided students summer-time funds to work on domestic violence cases in conjunction with a battered womens shelter in McDowell County and the Appalachian Legal Services.
WVU law student Jodie Robinson said McConnell has devoted her tenure at the College of Law to helping not only the students in her charge but also the women of WVU and the state.
“I can think of no person more qualified for the Mary Catherine Buswell Award than Dean Joyce McConnell,”Robinson said.”She is a God-send.”
McConnell came to WVU in 1995 as an associate law professor, a position she held until 1998 when she was promoted to full professor. In 1999, she was promoted to the law schools associate dean for Academic Affairs.
From 1994-95, she was a visiting associate law professor at the University of Maryland, and from 1987-94, was an associate law professor at the University of New York School of Law.
McConnell served as an advocacy fellow at the Georgetown University Law Centers Center for Applied Legal Services from 1984-86, and from 1982-84, she was an attorney and advisor to the Chief Judge and Division of Judges of the National Labor Relations Board.
She has been widely published in juried publications including the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, the Harvard Womens Law Journal and the Maryland Journal of Contemporary Legal Issues.
Additionally, she has served on numerous national, state and WVU boards and professional organizations.
Upon hearing of the award, McConnell said,”Of all the honors I have received during my professional lifetime, this one has the most meaning for me. It is an honor and privilege to receive this award for womens advocacy, a cause I believe so firmly in.”
McConnell earned her bachelors degree from Washingtons Evergreen State College in 1979, her doctorate of jurisprudence from the Antioch School of Law in 1982, and her masters in law from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1990.
She will be recognized during this years Weekend of Honors Convocation Ceremony at 7 p.m. Friday, April 12, in the Mountainlair ballrooms.
The Buswell Award, sponsored by the WVU Council for Womens Concerns, is named after Mary Catherine Buswell, a former WVU English professor and womens advocate.