Judith Welch Wegner (1950-2021)

Judith Welch Wegner died on December 3, 2021 after a short illness.  She is survived by Warren, her husband of nearly 50 years; a brother, a sister, sister-in-law, two nieces, three nephews and numerous friends.  She was 71 and she and her husband had moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts following her 2016 retirement as a faculty member at UNC School of Law.

Wegner joined the law school faculty in 1981.  She served as dean from 1989-99, contributing in numerous ways to the welfare of the law school, including hiring diverse faculty and staff, implementing an externship program, reforming the curriculum, securing funds for and constructing a major law school building addition, and strengthening ties with alumni and the campus at large.  She supported the development of the UNC Festival of Legal Learning (a major continuing education program) and served as director of the program for many years until her retirement.

In addition, Wegner served as president of the Association of American Law Schools (1995) and as a senior scholar with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (where she was co-author of Educating Lawyers, published in 2007).  She also served the campus and UNC System, first as elected chair of the UNC Chapel Hill faculty (2003-2006) and later as chair of the Faculty Assembly representing all UNC system campuses (2008-2010).

In addition to focusing on innovative legal education, Wegner’s scholarship centered on state and local government law (State and Local Government in a Federal System, in numerous editions).  She was the recipient of the Ernest Ball award for excellence in municipal law from the North Carolina municipal lawyers. Wegner also served on numerous local elected and appointed committees and state legislative committees including the Carrboro Town Council, Orange County Planning Board, and General Statutes Commission. She took special pride in mentoring students and colleagues involved in the field of municipal law.

Wegner was born in Windsor, CT in 1950, and attended public schools there. She received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin (Madison) in 1972 (phi beta kappa), and her law degree from UCLA in 1996 (order of the coif).  Prior to joining the UNC Law faculty, she worked in Washington, D.C. as an attorney in the Department of Justice and as a Special Assistant to the United States Secretary of Education.  She asks that contributions in her honor be made to the UNC School of Government Foundation.

Comments

[Kimberly Krawiec]

Sorry to hear this. Judith was a wonderful person. She'll be missed by family, friends, and colleagues alike.

[Bernie Burk]

I had the privilege of overlapping at UNC with Judith for a number of years. She was the most generous and supportive colleague you could ever hope for. Whatever you were thinking about doing, she had ten good ideas for how to move it forward, and wanted to know what she could do to help. She was unique and extraordinary.

--Bernie

[Jonleelawprof]

Judith was one of my mentors when at started at UNC. I vividly remember how supportive she was of my work as well as my personal well-being. She was a giant in the academy--her voice and spirit of generosity will be missed.

[Al Brophy]

She was a lovely person. I am really sad.

[Jamila Jefferson-Jones]

I had the privilege of serving on an AALS site visit team with Judith. I learned so much from her. She was generous and served with such integrity. She was a great person who will be greatly missed.

[Rebecca Flanagan]

A huge loss. She was my Property professor, and later, my mentor as a law professor. She was generous and kind, intellectually curious, and just an all-around wonderful person.

[Bill Turnier]

Judith was on a quest for progress in everything she did. I was honored to serve as one of her two Associate Deans at the start of her deanship. One of my principal charges was to create an enriched environment for faculty at UNC. That provided for a lot of fun for me and our faculty. She never rested in her effort to improve legal education for benefit of students and the ultimate consumers of legal education, the general public.