Dean Chamberlain reappointed for second term
September 29, 2021
Erika Chamberlain has been reappointed as Dean of Western Law for a second, five-year term beginning July 1, 2022.
Her reappointment, which was informed by an external review and feedback from the faculty and campus community, received unanimous support from the Decanal Selection Committee and President Alan Shepard. It was formally approved by the Board of Governors’ Senior Policy & Operations Committee on Sept. 28.
Since becoming Dean in May 2017, Chamberlain “has done an admirable job of leading the faculty and ensuring an outstanding teaching and learning experience for students,” said Sarah Prichard, Western’s Acting Provost & Vice-President (Academic).
“She has led a substantial renewal of the faculty, including the recruitment of close to a dozen highly promising young scholars, the establishment of the Anti-Racism Working Group, and enhanced research capacity through the creation of a Chair in Corporate Governance and Western Law’s first Canada Research Chair,” Prichard added.
Perhaps most notably, Chamberlain successfully led the faculty’s efforts to deliver the country’s most extensive in-person law program for first-year students during the pandemic.
Chamberlain, who earned her LLB from Western Law in 2001, was called to the Ontario bar in 2002, and spent a year clerking at the Supreme Court of Canada prior to her appointment to the faculty in 2005. She earned her doctorate from the University of Cambridge and served a five-year term as Western Law’s Associate Dean (Academic) from 2012-2017. Chamberlain is also an accomplished Ironman triathlete.
