Julie Underwood

Julie K. Underwood is a former dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Education and is the first woman to lead UW's School of Education as dean. She served in her role as dean of UW's School of Education from August 2005 to July 2015.^[1]

Biography

Underwood received her bachelor's degree from DePauw University in 1976, her law degree from Indiana University in 1979, and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Florida in 1984. Early in her career as an attorney, she worked at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in a number of positions, including State Hearing Officer, State Reviewing Officer, and Interim General Counsel.

During her time at DPI, Underwood served on the faculty of the Department of Educational Administration (now Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis) at UW-Madison from 1986 to 1995. She then left Madison, Wisconsin to serve as dean of Miami University's School of Education and Allied Professions (now School of Education, Health & Society) from 1995 to 1998 and then as Associate Executive Director and General Counsel for the National School Boards Association (NSBA) in Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA from 1998 to 2005.

At the NSBA, she led a legal advocacy program on behalf of the nation’s public school boards, a responsibility that included presenting friend-of-the-court briefs and legal strategies before the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts. She also was responsible for the 3,000-member Council of School Attorneys.

At UW-Madison, Underwood has served as chair of the Department of Educational Administration (1993–94), where she became the first woman to earn tenure in that department; Associate Dean of the School of Education (1994–95);Co-Director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Policy at the Robert M. La Follette Institute of Public Affairs (1990–93) and eventually Dean of the School of Education.

She co-authored several books, including School Law for Teachers (Prentice Hall, 2006), Legal Aspects of Special Education and Pupil Services (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1995), and The Principal’s Legal Handbook (Education Law Association, 1993). She also writes a monthly column for Phi Delta Kappan, a professional magazine that publishes articles and editorials in the field of education, and has several other publications in Educational Horizons and The Nation, among many others.

Amicus Briefs in U.S. Supreme Court Cases

Underwood has also written amici briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court and argued before the Court in several hallmark cases, including:

• Garcetti v. Ceballos, 547 U.S. 410 (2006);
• Schaffer v. Weast, 546 U.S. 49 (2005);
• Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 542 U.S. 1 (2004) (also on oral argument team);
• Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712 (2004);
• Gratz v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 244 (2003) (coordinator for K-12 amicus parties);
• Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003) (coordinator for K-12 amicus parties);
• Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001) (also on oral argument team);
• Davis v. Monroe County Bd. of Educ., 526 U.S. 629 (1999) (also on oral argument team).

Articles

Some of Underwood's recent intellectual contributions include:

• Underwood, J. K. (2017). Under the Law: Kneeling during the national anthem: At schools, it’s protected speech. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Underwood, J. K. (2017). Under the Law: Mixing guns and schools. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Underwood, J. K. (2017). Under the Law: The privacy of a student’s backpack. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Underwood, J. K. (2016). Under the Law: Expanded Support for Homeless Students. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Underwood, J. K. (2016). Under the Law: Modern student speech and t-shirt jurisprudence. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Underwood, J. K. (2016). Under the Law: Student online speech rights on and off campus. Phi Delta Kappan.
• Mead, Julie F., & Underwood, J. (2012, March). A smart ALEC threatens public education. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(6), 51-55.
• Underwood, J. K. (2011). ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools. The Nation.

Media Mentions

• https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/07/20/537958123/betsy-devos-latest-speech-draws-protests-even-before-she-speaks

References