Dean Thur Marshall School of Law; TMSL

Situation Overview

ZRG has been engaged to recruit a Dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law (TMSL) for Texas Southern University.

Founded in 1927, Texas Southern University is a comprehensive, doctoral‑granting institution located in Houston, one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the nation. As a historically Black university, Texas Southern continues to expand access to opportunity while advancing innovation, research, and economic mobility.

Texas Southern University is also recognized with the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, reflecting its deep and sustained commitment to community partnerships and public impact.

Through its ASCEND 2030 Strategic Plan, the University is executing a bold, performance‑driven vision focused on student success, academic excellence, and institutional growth.

Texas Southern University is a student‑centered, comprehensive doctoral institution committed to ensuring equality, offering innovative programs responsive to its urban setting, and transforming diverse students into lifelong learners, engaged citizens, and creative leaders in their local, national, and global communities.

• Excellence
• Accountability
• Innovation
• Precision

The Dean will lead the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in alignment with Texas Southern University’s ASCEND 2030 Strategic Plan, advancing the priorities of student success, academic excellence, research growth, and institutional impact. The Dean will serve as a visionary architect of legal education in an era defined by artificial intelligence, digital justice, global governance, and evolving challenges. This transformative leader will champion innovation across curriculum, research, and community impact while preparing future attorneys to navigate emerging technologies, constitutional complexities, cybersecurity law, environmental justice, and cross‑border legal systems.

The Dean will cultivate strategic partnerships with courts, technology companies, public agencies, and international institutions to position the law school as a national hub for ethical leadership and socially conscious legal innovation. Guided by the legacy of Thurgood Marshall, the Dean will advance equity‑centered excellence through data‑informed decision‑making, interdisciplinary collaboration, and forward‑thinking advocacy that empowers graduates to lead in both physical and digital societies.

Texas Southern University invites nominations and applications for an innovative, dedicated, and dynamic Dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Under general supervision reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research, the Dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law will be the chief academic and administrative officer responsible for formulating and enforcing innovative policies designed to ensure that students are fully prepared to become licensed, successful, and ethical attorneys upon graduation.

Texas Southern University recognizes that exceptional deans are not produced by a single career path. While the traditional academic profile is acknowledged and appreciated, it is not the only pathway to transformational leadership. This search is open to traditional and non‑traditional applicants, including senior practitioners, accomplished legal professionals, retired judges, and/or legal professionals whose careers have been defined by practice, public service, or the bench in addition to the classroom.

Texas Southern University believes that a leader whose expertise was forged in courtrooms, boardrooms, and chambers, or the halls of government, in conjunction with adequate academic experience, brings precisely the vision, relationships, and credibility that this moment requires.

• Create the infrastructure and control that cultivate an environment of academic excellence through high student engagement, exceptional teaching, faculty research, and a rigorous curriculum designed to produce consistently competitive bar performance scores.
• Supervise the Law School’s daily operations, budget management, student recruitment, and…