'The complete academic citizen'

Julia Lamber, 2003 Office for Women’s Affairs Distinguished Scholar

Lamber

Under Lamber’s leadership as dean for women’s affairs, IU developed a formal policy prohibiting sexual harassment.

Her work has tended to be “ahead of the curve.” During her career, she has delved into questions of age, race and gender; of reproductive rights and employment; of the use of statistical evidence in the courts and the protection of civil rights by the courts. She has always kept issues affecting the lives of women and girls at the core of her work—from access to jobs in the factory, to access to positions (and scholarships) on the athletic playing field.

Early in her career, Lamber served as assistant professor of business law at the Kelley School of Business, and then moved to Washington, D.C., where she was an attorney in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. She spent a short time at the University of Nebraska as assistant professor of law and assistant dean before returning to the IU School of Law-Bloomington.

From the beginning, Lamber’s research has proved to be prescient and has always centered on women’s equal standing under the law. Her research on equal rights for women, published in 1971, coincided with national debate on ratification of an equal rights amendment. That work was followed by research on the question of married women’s rights to keep their own names after marriage—at a time when custom had the power of law. She also has explored various aspects of employment discrimination, from federal agency statutes, to an examination of Title VII, to mother’s rights to employment and reproductive hazards in the workplace.

Her current project is a multi-faceted analysis of intercollegiate athletics, gender and Title IX. Combining a personal love of sports with a commitment to women’s equality, her work is once again examining issues at the center of national debate.

Lamber developed the first law school course on women and the law as well as a seminar on sexual harassment.

Under her leadership as dean for women’s affairs, IU developed a formal policy prohibiting sexual harassment and established a campus policy on consensual relationships. She also served for many years as an advocate of a university family leave policy that would enable women faculty to more easily combine productive careers and motherhood. An ensuing family leave policy has made it possible for both women and men to be both responsible faculty and caring parents.

Additionally, she was involved in initiatives toward establishing the Women in Science Program, which was funded by a Strategic Directions Initiative grant in the early 1990s, and, by 1997, a graduate fellowship program for women in the sciences was created.

Nomination letters were unanimous in praising Lamber’s compassion, intelligence, political skills and an unyielding commitment to women—in her research, teaching and administrative leadership—thereby modeling both the ideal teacher-scholar-administrator and the complete academic citizen.