
				Widener University School of Law Dean Linda L. Ammons announced today that Sydney Howe-Barksdale has been named director of the school’s Public Interest Resource Center, located on the Delaware campus.Howe-Barksdale comes to Widener from the Toll Public Interest Center at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she had been serving as the interim executive director. Prior to that, she was at William Paterson University in northeast New Jersey, where she was associate vice president for diversity and minority affairs, and then director of corporate and foundation relations.She will receive her doctor of philosophy, education leadership, management and policy from Seton Hall University in May 2008. She also holds a law degree from Boston University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College.Howe-Barksdale and her husband, Greg Barksdale, live in West Chester, Pa. with their son.“I am delighted to announce Sydney’s arrival at Widener Law. She brings a wealth of experience, energy and enthusiasm for public interest to the job,” Law Dean Linda L. Ammons said. “Civic engagement and service learning are vital components to Widener’s mission and the Public Interest Resource Center plays a major role in developing these opportunities for our students. I look forward to watching the center grow and succeed under her leadership.”The Public Interest Resource Center was founded on the Delaware campus in February 2005. It is dedicated to the promotion of public-interest work by Widener law students and, as its director, Howe-Barksdale will coordinate with community organizations to build partnerships that create service learning opportunities for the students. She will also work with students to place them into pro bono openings that allow them to apply what they have learned in law school to serve the indigent in the pursuit of justice.Howe-Barksdale replaces founding PIRC Director Arlene Rivera Finkelstein, who left the law school in January.
		