Widener University School of Law Dean Linda L. Ammons has
announced staff changes and additions to the faculty, for both
campuses, with nearly all effective July 1.“These new appointments continue to further our progress in implementing our strategic plan and strengthening the intellectual and administrative initiatives of the law school,” Ammons said.On both campuses the changes include:
		
				Michael Slinger
				
		Michael Slinger, joins the school as associate dean for information services and technology, director of the Legal Information Center and professor of law. Slinger comes to Widener from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in Ohio, where he served as associate dean, director of the law library and professor of law. He holds a law degree from Duquesne University and a master’s of library science from the University of South Carolina. He has previously worked for law libraries and served on the faculty at the University of Notre Dame Law School and Suffolk University School of Law, where he was library director from 1990 to 1995. Slinger replaces former Legal Information Center director Eileen Cooper, who retired in 2005, and Mary K. Marzolla, who has served as acting director since.On the Delaware campus the changes include:
		
				
						Thaddeus M. Pope
				
		Thaddeus M. Pope joins the school as an associate professor of law. He assumes the tenure-track position after spending the 2007-2008 academic year on the Delaware campus as a visiting assistant professor. Pope holds both a law degree and a Ph.D. from Georgetown University. Prior to his arrival at Widener in 2007, Pope was an assistant professor of law at the University of Memphis. He also has worked in private practice as an associate at Arnold &amp; Porter LLP in Los Angeles and has clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. Pope teaches and writes in the areas of health law, bioethics and torts and his classes will be a part of the program offered by Widener’s nationally ranked Health Law Institute. He lives in Swarthmore, Pa.
		
				
		
				Professor J. Patrick Kelly
				
		As of Jan. 1, Professor J. Patrick Kelly will assume the position of vice dean of the Delaware campus, the most senior member of the dean’s cabinet for Delaware. He will work closely with her in running the day-to-day operations of the school. Kelly replaces Professor Russell A. Hakes, who will return to full-time teaching. Kelly has been with the law school since 1984 and teaches and writes in the areas of international law, international trade law, international environmental law, international business transactions and administrative law. Before he entered higher education Kelly held positions in the U.S. House of Representatives and with the Federal Trade Commission, including assistant to the director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. He and his wife Victoria live in Landenberg, Pa.On the Harrisburg campus the changes include:
		
				
		
				Starla J. Williams 
				
		Starla J. Williams joins the faculty as a legal methods professor. Williams earned a master’s of law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and her law degree from Duquesne University School of Law. She has been a member of the Pennsylvania bar since 1991 and has served as a judicial clerk in the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court and in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She also spent time in private practice, where she represented birth parents in dependency proceedings before the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County – Family Division. 
		
				
		
				Dionne E. Anthon
				
		Dionne E. Anthon also joins Widener as a legal methods professor. Anthon earned an M.B.A. from Georgetown University and her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she served as a production editor of the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She has clerked for Judge Christopher C. Conner of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania since 2005. Anthon resides in Harrisburg.
		
				Jennifer Lear 
				
		Jennifer Lear joins the school as a visiting legal methods professor. She is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School. Lear practiced at the Washington, D.C. law firm Crowell &amp; Moring LLP, and then returned to George Washington to teach legal research and writing as an adjunct professor. Between 1997 and 2007 she worked as a writing consultant,developing and conducting courses for attorneys, paralegals, L.L.M. candidates, business professionals and secondary school students. Most recently, Lear served as an adjunct professor at Widener’s Harrisburg campus and at Elizabethtown College. She resides in Hershey.
		
				
		
				Tonya Evans-Walls 
				
		Tonya Evans-Walls joins the school as an assistant professor of law. She assumes the tenure-track position after spending the 2007-2008 academic year on the Harrisburg campus as a visiting professor. Evans-Walls holds a law degree from Howard University School of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Howard Law Journal. She is the author of an award-winning series of legal reference guides for writers and she chairs the Pennsylvania Bar Association Sports, Entertainment and Art Law Committee. Prior to her arrival at Widener in 2007, Evans-Walls spent four years as managing member of TME Law, a Philadelphia-based boutique firm specializing in entertainment law, intellectual property, municipal finance and estate planning. She has also previously taught as an adjunct professor at York College of Pennsylvania. Evans-Walls will teach courses in property and intellectual property this fall.
		