Judith G. Dein ’76, a federal magistrate judge, will be the featured speaker at Founders Day on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 1 p.m. in Memorial Chapel.
The event commemorates the 231st anniversary of the granting of Union’s charter by the state Board of Regents in 1795, regarded as one of the first public calls for higher education.
The event is free and open to the campus community and the public.
Dein is a federal magistrate judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and served as its chief magistrate judge from 2009-12. Since her appointment to the bench in 2000, Dein has presided over numerous civil, jury and jury-waived trials, as well as pre-trial criminal matters.
“We are delighted to welcome Judge Judy Dein back to campus to help us celebrate our founding,” said President Elizabeth Kiss. “She is a highly engaging speaker who is passionate about Union and will deliver the perfect message to students, faculty and staff.”
At Union, Dein majored in American Studies. In 1973, she became the first female editor-in-chief of the Concordiensis, the student newspaper.
She earned a J.D. from Boston College Law School. While in law school, Judy served as editor-in-chief of The Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review. After graduating with her law degree, she was a law clerk to the justices of the Massachusetts Superior Court and then to Robert Braucher, associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Next, she joined the litigation department of Hale and Dorr, LLP, first as an associate and then as a junior partner, 1981-89, and then became a partner at Warner & Stackpole, LLP, which later merged with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, LLP. She remained at the firm until her appointment to the bench.
A member of the College’s Board of Trustees since 2012, Dein chairs the Student Affairs committee and served on the search committee for the recent selection of Kiss as the institution’s 20th president.
Dein and her husband, Alan Reisch ’75, are generous supporters of Union. They named the Reisch/Dein Digital Photo Lab in 2013. Reisch is a member of the President’s Council.
Also at Founders Day, the College will present the Gideon Hawley Teacher Recognition Award. Named for the 1809 graduate of Union who was New York state’s first superintendent of public education, the award is given to a high school teacher who has had a continuing influence on a Union student.
Past Founders Day speakers have included Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Richard Russo and James M. McPherson; Paul LeClerc, retired president and chief executive officer of the New York Public Library and a former professor at Union; and Joanna Stern ’06, former senior personal technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal.