Interim Dean Sarah J. Williams begins a new chapter at Penn State Dickinson Law

CARLISLE AND UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Throughout her career, Penn State Dickinson Law Interim Dean Sarah J. Williams has approached new situations as opportunities. She embraced that mindset throughout two highly successful decades in private practice and public service, as well as during her transition into academia. She joined the Law School in 2019 and later earned tenure.

One month into her position as interim dean, Williams said she continues to see promise in what lies ahead.

“I have many years of experience, yet I am always excited by a challenge. I want to inspire our students to embrace challenges as well,” she said. “We are all developing, and we must support that growth at every stage of our careers. This interim deanship is another step in my professional development, and it gives me a precious opportunity to accomplish important things for the Law School.”

Williams said she has identified three priorities for her interim deanship while Penn State conducts a national search for a permanent dean. The first is to advance student success by focusing on leadership development. Her second priority is leading strategic planning through a consensus-based process to articulate the school's mission across both locations and connect it to Penn State’s vision. Her third priority is promoting faculty development to support academic excellence and elevate the school’s institutional reputation.

She recognizes the importance of alumni support and involvement at the Law School, and, she said, she enjoyed speaking with them and listening to their insights as she formulated her goals.

“I love the idea that we, as a community of students, staff, faculty, administrators, alumni and donors, can work together to define who we are through strategic planning,” she said.

She said one of her first steps as interim dean will be hiring a strategic planning consultant. Earlier in the summer, Williams had been tapped to chair the faculty committee on strategic planning, so she has already given the project extensive consideration.

“With every committee and initiative I have led here at the Law School, I have emphasized consensus and buy-in,” said Williams. “This strategic planning exercise will reflect those values.”

‘One of the best conversations I have ever had’

The values Williams prizes were instilled at an early age as one of six children, she said. Her father was a police officer, which gave her an early awareness of the legal system and sparked her passion for fairness and equity.

After earning her bachelor’s degree at Dartmouth College and her juris doctorate from New York University School of Law, Williams began her career as an associate attorney at Arnold & Porter LLP, in Washington, D.C.

“I enjoyed everything about private practice. I learned how to be a very competent lawyer, to be technically accurate, and to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts,” she said. She moved on to a position as a staff attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she was able to develop her specialization in securities regulation.

Her law school courses in accounting and securities regulation piqued Williams’ interest in the field, she said.

“Accounting, at its base, is about disclosure,” she said. “Securities regulation is also about disclosure. Companies should be able to raise capital to improve their businesses and lift up our economy, but they have to do it responsibly, and they have to make sure that the people whose money they are taking get good information and are treated fairly."

She said the concept of regulating securities markets intrigued her, as did the opportunity to put into practice her early passion for fairness and equity in the legal system.

Williams worked for seven years at the SEC, receiving promotions to branch chief and counsel to an SEC commissioner. She then joined the National Association of Securities Dealers (now FINRA) as assistant general counsel and was promoted to associate general counsel during her tenure. In 2003, she reunited with former SEC colleagues at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The PCAOB had opened its doors just a few months before she joined, and she spent more than a decade there as associate director and deputy director for the Division of Registration and Inspections. She trained at the Center for Creative Leadership during her tenure there.

After 15 years at the PCAOB, Williams contemplated the next step in her professional journey. She reflected on the joy she experienced mentoring young lawyers during her career, she said, and she remembered the law school professor who had taught her accounting and securities regulation courses.

“The courses were tough, but he pushed me to my full potential by encouraging me to be open to learning everything I could learn and then finding my own path,” Williams said.

She also thought about her time at the SEC, serving as counsel to an SEC commissioner who was also a former law school dean. He emphasized to the entire SEC staff the importance of following the rule of law, even when pursuing justice.

Encouraged by a close college friend who had also transitioned from private practice to legal education, Williams entered the academic job market and was invited to interview at Penn State Dickinson Law in Carlisle. It immediately felt right, she said.

“My job talk at Penn State Dickinson Law was one of the best conversations I have ever had,” she said. “Students who knew nothing about securities regulation or financial auditing were asking me smart, relevant questions. Professors were connecting with me in realms like intellectual property, technology and real property law. The rest, as they say, was history.”

‘I put myself in places where I believe I can help’

Williams said she has used her practical experience to inform her classroom approach, such as distilling difficult concepts into plain English, speaking directly and knowledgably, and connecting doctrinal law to real-world problems. Students have said they appreciate her focus on developing their knowledge and lawyering abilities.

She has received the Phillip M. Scott Teaching Excellence Award for 2021–22 and the Black Law Students Association Faculty Excellence Awards in 2025 and 2026. She was also selected by the student body to receive the Faculty Member of the Year Award in 2026. She has also received Professor Minerva McGonagall Awards from the Women’s Law Caucus.

Williams volunteers as an arbitrator of fee disputes involving members of the D.C. Bar and serves as vice chair of the D.C. Bar’s Attorney/Client Arbitration Board. She was recently appointed to the board of directors of the Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority (CCRA), where she helps improve neighborhood properties in her community.

“I put myself in places where I believe I can help, and that is my primary driver for performing service activities,” Williams said.

As the interim dean of one law school with two locations, Williams has plenty of chances to help.

“Strategic planning is an opportunity to celebrate each location’s strengths, to proclaim them, to leverage them, and to figure out how we build upon them while strengthening the Penn State brand,” Williams said.

She noted that all of her vision priorities are student-focused because they are the Law School’s ultimate measure of success.

“What matters to all of us is how we are going to make our students competent and competitive when they leave our institution,” Williams said. “Discussing how we can achieve that is such a unifying conversation, and I am excited to lead it.”