Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez, the Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School, was selected to serve as the dean of Yale Law School by a search committee of distinguished law school faculty members in December 2025;

Whereas she will assume the deanship on February 1, 2026, as the Sol and Lillian Goldman Dean and Professor of Law at Yale Law School, marking a historic transition in the leadership of one of the Nation’s most prestigious legal institutions;

Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez was born in San Antonio, Texas, earned her bachelor of arts from Yale College, received her master of letters from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned her juris doctor from Yale Law School;

Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez was the first tenured Hispanic law professor at Yale Law School, trailblazing a path for future generations of Hispanic legal scholars;

Whereas Christina M. Rodríguez will be the first Latina and second woman to hold the position of dean at Yale Law School since its founding;

Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez is a distinguished scholar who has authored more than 70 academic articles and essays on constitutional law, administrative governance, and immigration law, establishing herself as a preeminent thought leader in the legal community;

Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez is a principled leader and venerated educator who serves as a devoted mentor to her students;

Whereas Cristina M. Rodríguez’s distinguished career in public service includes serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Justice;

Whereas, in 2021, Dean Rodríguez was appointed to cochair the bipartisan Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, providing vital leadership on matters of national judicial importance; and

Whereas the presence of experienced, highly credentialed legal professionals in leadership roles at academic institutions is essential to the integrity of legal education: Now, therefore, be it