Northern Illinois University
College of Law

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Cassandra Hill became dean of the Northern Illinois University College of Law on July 1, 2020. Prior to joining NIU Law, Dean Hill served as an administrator and faculty member at Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. Most recently she served as the associate dean for academic affairs. She also was appointed by the then-university president to serve on a three-member leadership team with the law school’s acting dean. In addition, she held positions as associate dean for research and faculty development and director of legal writing.

Dean Hill’s scholarship focuses on pedagogy, learning theory, and assessment in legal education. She has presented and written extensively on these areas. Her co-authored book, Legal Analysis: 100 Exercises for Mastery, is now in its second edition and has been adopted at more than 25 law schools nationwide.

Dean Hill’s demonstrated leadership is also exemplified at the local and national levels through her membership in bar associations and other legal organizations and as a community leader. She is chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar Conferences and Programming Committee and has experience as a site-team evaluator with the ABA. Dean Hill is the first elected African-American member on the Board of Directors for the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) and she was a former Managing Editor of the LWI Monograph Series. Dean Hill served on the Houston Texans YMCA Board of Managers; she is a past member of the Wesley Foundation Community Center Board of Directors and the Houston READ Commission, to which she was appointed by the mayor. She is also a member of the State Bar of Texas, the District of Columbia Bar, and the New York State Bar.

Dean Hill received her J.D. from Howard University School of Law and graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics and Spanish from the University of Virginia, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. After graduating from law school, she served as a federal law clerk for the Honorable Vanessa D. Gilmore, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, and she practiced with the law firm of Baker Botts L.L.P. in the Tax/Employee Benefits section. Dean Hill then began her teaching career at UCLA School of Law.

News

 

| SSRN Author Page | HeinOnline Author Profile |

Books and Articles

• Legal Analysis: 100 Exercises for Mastery and Teacher’s Manual (co-author) (LexisNexis Matthew Bender 2012., 2d edition 2017). 
• ALWD Citation Companion and Teacher’s Manual (contributing scholar to online exercises) (Wolters Kluwer, 2014). 
• The Elephant in the Law School Assessment Room: The Role of Student Responsibility and Motivating Our Students to Learn, 56 Howard L.J. 101 (2013). 
• Peer Editing:  A Comprehensive Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, 13 Nevada L.J. 101 (2011). 
• Now I See: Redefining the Post-Grade Conference as Process and Substance Assessment, 54 Howard L.J. 1 (2010) (with Katherine Traverse Vukadin).

Other Writing

• Psychology of Hope: Legal Educators Must Strengthen Students’ “Waypower” to Succeed, Learning Curve, AALS Section on Academic Support, Winter 2012, at 13.
• All Hands on Deck: Maximizing Existing Resources to Improve Students’ Basic Writing Skills, AALS Section on Teaching Methods Newsletter, January 2011, at 7. 
• Collaboration Training With an Eye toward Outcomes and Assessment, 24 Second Draft, Fall 2010, at 12.

Presentations and Panels

• Using Data to Reform the Curriculum, Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) Symposium, St. Louis University School of Law (November 2014) (Co-panelists include Barry Currier (Managing Director of the ABA), Catherine Carpenter (Southwestern Law School and ABA StandardsR eview Committee member) and Bryant Garth (UC Irvine School of Law and LSSSE Advisory Board Chair)). 
• The Elephant in the Law School Assessment Room: The Role of Student Responsibility and Motivating Our Students to Learn, University of Arkansas Little Rock Bowen School of Law, Scholarly Faculty Exchange Program with Thurgood Marshall School of Law, March 2013. 
• The Scholarly Way:  Understanding Publication Expectations for Legal Writing Faculty; Publishing Everything from Shorter Pieces to Articles to Books; and Finding Time to Publish, Texas Wesleyan School of Law Legal Writing Institute One-Day Workshop (co-presenter), December 2012. 
• Using Foundational Outcomes and Outcomes Assessment for First Year Law Students: Identifying Outcomes, Developing Formative Assessment Tools, and Engaging in Programmatic Assessment, Albany Law School Center for Learning and Teaching (CELT), Inaugural Conference (Conference Title: Setting and Assessing Learning Objectives from Day One), March 2012. 
• LRW Staffing Models and Status Issues, Junior Faculty Development Workshop, Sixteenth Annual LatCrit Conference, October 2011. 
• The Bottom Drawer: Exploring Scholarship Topics, Association of Legal Writing Directors Biennial Conference, Pacific McGeorge School of Law (co-presenter), June 2011. 
• Using Outcomes Assessment to Develop and Measure Students’ Acquisition of Fundamental Lawyering Skills, Institute for Law Teaching and Learning, New York Law School (co-presenter), June 2011. 
• Making It All Work—A Three-Pronged Approach to Law School Assessment, Thurgood Marshall School of Law’s Research Week Faculty Presentations (co-presenter), April 2011. 
• Peer Editing:  A Comprehensive Approach to Maximize Assessment Opportunities, Integrate Collaborative Learning, and Achieve Desired Outcomes, American University Washington College of Law’s How Legal Rhetoric Shapes the Law: Pedagogy, Theory, Practice Colloquium, October 2010. 
• Critical Approaches to Law School Teaching: A Methodology to Reach All Students (and Maintain Our Sanity) in an Outcomes and Assessment Based Era, Third National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference, Seton Hall University School of Law (presenter and panel moderator), September 2010. 
• Sharing What Works: Enhancing Our Teaching Through Technology, Legal Writing Institute Biennial Conference (co-presenter), June 2010.
• Legal Writing Seminar, Houston Bar Association, Minority Opportunities in the Legal Profession, April 2010. 
• Now I See: Redefining the Post-Grade Conference as Process and Substance Assessment, Texas Southern University’s Research Week Faculty Presentations (co-presenter), April 2010. 
• Writing Collaboration—Getting Going as Scholarly Writers, Thurgood Marshall School of Law’s Research Week Faculty Presentations (co-presenter), April 2010. 
• Now I See: The Post-Grade Conference as a Positive Strategy Session, Rocky Mountain Regional Legal Writing Conference (co-presenter), March 2010.