MORGANTOWN — A First Amendment expert with extensive administrative experience at West Virginia University will guide the College of Law as interim dean, an appointment that will likely encompass the next academic year.
Jackson Kelly Professor John E. Taylor will step into the role July 1, upon the departure of Gregory Bowman who was recently named dean of the Roger Williams University School of Law.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Maryanne Reed made the announcement April 13.
“While we are sad to see Greg Bowman leave the university after his long tenure here, we wish him well in his new endeavor,” Reed said. “We are confident that Professor Taylor, a well-respected faculty member and administrator, will bring a steady hand to his leadership role and help propel the law school the forward.”
Taylor joined the College of Law faculty in 2002 and served as the college’s associate dean for academic affairs from 2010 to 2013 and again from 2014 to 2015. He has taught courses in constitutional law, criminal procedure, criminal law, torts, education law, and a seminar on the law of church and state.
Taylor writes primarily about First Amendment issues in the public schools. He was named Professor of the Year for the College of Law in 2017 and received the College of Law’s Significant Faculty Scholarship Award in 2006 for his article, “Using Suppression Hearing Testimony to Prove Good Faith Under United States v. Leon.”
Before joining the legal academy, Taylor clerked for the Honorable M. Blane Michael on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
He holds a J.D. with highest honors and an A.B. with distinction from the University of North Carolina, as well as M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in religious studies from Stanford University.
Reed noted Bowman’s many years of service to WVU and its law faculty and students. She said the university plans to conduct a national search for a new William J. Maier, Jr. Dean beginning in the fall.
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