Franita Tolson had history on her mind as she was officially installed Thursday afternoon as dean of the USC Gould School of Law.
The installation ceremony was crowded, with approximately 200 people in attendance, including USC President Carol Folt, Provost Andrew T. Guzman and many of the leaders of USC’s 22 other schools and academic units.
Tolson, the first Black dean and the second female dean in the 124-year history of USC Gould, noted that her installation was taking place on the 69th anniversary of the start of the Montgomery bus boycott, the 13-month-long civil rights protest against racial segregation on public transit in Montgomery, Ala.
She shared with the crowd of colleagues, alumni, family members and other supporters inside the Town and Gown ballroom on the University Park Campus how that history has shaped and inspired her own journey.
“We honor our history and our ancestors because their sacrifices give us a glimpse of what is possible and what can be,” Tolson said during her remarks. “In my role as dean, respecting the journeys of those who walked the paths that we now walk helps me to respect and appreciate the journeys of all in our community. It also helps me to chart a path forward that is sensitive to, and seeks to build on, a history that has emphasized greatness and the principle that if we can dream it, we can achieve it.”
Tolson, who now holds the Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law, was named dean at USC Gould in March after serving as interim dean since 2023 while holding the George T. and Harriet E. Pfleger Chair in Law. Tolson came to USC in 2017 and was named the law school’s vice dean for faculty and academic affairs a short time later.
In introducing Tolson at the installation, Folt remarked that USC Gould “will be led by a lawyer of remarkable talent, scholarship, dedication to teaching, and, most importantly, character.”
Folt lauded Tolson as a nationally recognized scholar in election law who has addressed such topics as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 14th and 15th amendments, partisan gerrymandering and other constitutional issues. Her work has appeared in Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal and Stanford Law Review, among many others, and she has been an analyst and commentator for CNN and MSNBC.
“I think it’s very clear that she is absolutely the right person at this moment,” Folt said. “She has the incredible experience to shepherd USC Gould forward not only now, but into its next decades of great success.”
An accomplished path to the USC Gould deanship
As vice dean of USC Gould, Tolson co-chaired the academic affairs subcommittee that developed the law school’s “Race, Racism and the Law” course, a first-of-its-kind required course among top law schools nationwide. She helped launch USC Gould’s new visiting assistant professor program, which aims to create a pipeline for new law faculty, including those from underrepresented backgrounds. She also contributed to the law school’s efforts to ensure the community’s health and safety while sustaining its educational and research mission during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guzman, who was dean of USC Gould before being named provost in 2023, described himself as “unbelievably proud and happy” to have Tolson succeed him in leading the law school. During his remarks, Guzman said Tolson’s role as vice dean was complex and “unimaginably important.”
“The story of how we got through COVID cannot be told without Franita at the center,” he said. “It is just one of the things she did extraordinarily well.
“I’m hopeful I taught her a thing or two, but Franita taught me an enormous amount of how to work with people, how to lead, how to be graceful and yet strong,” Guzman added. “We couldn’t be more fortunate to have her leading the law school.”
Before arriving at USC, Tolson was the Betty T. Ferguson Professor of Voting Rights at Florida State University. In 2014, she became just the second Black woman to be promoted to associate professor with tenure at the FSU law school.
Tolson first became interested in a career in law as an undergraduate at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., where she earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree in history in 2001. She then enrolled at University of Chicago Law School, where her classes in constitutional law were taught by a professor who would go on to become president of the United States: Barack Obama.
After law school, Tolson spent three years clerking for Judge Rubén Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois and Judge Ann Claire Williams of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She then began teaching law as a visiting assistant professor at the Northwestern University School of Law.
New USC Gould dean: Grateful to family
During her remarks, Tolson thanked her three children “for giving me so much love.”
“You gave me understanding when my weekends turned into my workdays, my workdays extended into work evenings,” she said to her children as they looked on proudly from the front row. “You make everything make sense, even when it doesn’t.”
Also in the front row was Tolson’s mother, Wyona Smith, who said she was thinking of the dean’s father, Frank Smith, on this day.
“I feel that my husband is looking down from heaven saying, ‘This is my baby,’” Smith said in a brief interview before the start of the installation. “I give God all the glory for all the work that my children do.”
Building on a legacy
Tolson pointed out during her remarks that the USC Gould dean’s job involves more than fundraising, meeting with alumni and “putting out various fires.” She believes it’s also about protecting and growing the legacy that has been built by those members of the “Trojan network” who came before her.
“My other role is being the storyteller for the law school — crafting our narrative, our story,” she said. “As dean, I recognize that I’m tasked with continuing the story of this beloved law school, and today I want to honor the deans, the faculty, the staff, the students, the alumni who laid important groundwork for us to be able to claim the mantle of being one of the best law schools in the country.”
Tolson said she is also thankful for a Trojan network that is built around the idea of service to others, with members serving as mentors and adjunct professors, appearing on panels, speaking at events and “counseling me as I transition to this position.”
“You have invested your time, your attention and your resources in this institution, which has allowed us to be the change that we want to see in the world,” she said. “Thank you for not forgetting to reach back and lift up the people behind you.”
Tolson singled out several mentors, including USC Trustee and former interim President Wanda M. Austin, who was present and sitting in the first row, and Dorothy Wright Nelson, who was USC Gould’s first female dean and is now a senior judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Tolson said she “stands on the shoulders” of both women who “have made themselves available and have been generous with their advice and wisdom.”
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