Kelly Black-Holmes ’01 recalls being absolutely delighted when she heard, as a 2L, that Professor Katharine T. Bartlett had been appointed dean of Duke Law School. Having had Bartlett as her small-section contracts professor in her first year and taken two of her gender and the law classes, Black-Holmes says that she knew Bartlett as a professor who truly cared about students. “She cared about my interests – not just about my scholarly work, but about helping me define who I was, helping me grow as a person, a student, and a soon-to-be-lawyer.” She was further impressed when Bartlett found the time, during her first year as dean, to supervise Black-Holmes’ third-year independent study project.

Now an associate at Troutman Sanders in Atlanta, Black-Holmes says there was never any question in her mind that Bartlett, whom she calls a mentor and role model, would make an outstanding dean. “Everything Dean Bartlett has done for the School, from creating new clinics to launching the Duke Blueprint initiative, to raising money, flows along with her sense of self, her personality, and her concern for the students and the greater good of the School. I haven’t met one person who doesn’t like Dean Bartlett.”

As Bartlett prepares to return full-time to the faculty on June 30, after more than seven years as dean, her student’s sentiment is echoed in all quarters of the Duke Law School and University communities.

“Kate has been a most wonderful person to work with,” says Duke Provost Peter Lange. “She has been an outstanding dean, markedly improving the Law School’s faculty and programs, and taking it in new directions which are giving it a truly distinctive identity. As noteworthy, she has been a great University citizen and leader, working with me, her fellow deans, the president, and others to strengthen the University as a whole and to find the Law School’s place in that collective strategic endeavor.

“She is a person of wise counsel, a lovely combination of seriousness and wit, the highest principle, and just good fun. I will miss her both professionally and personally.”

“She has been a fantastic leader,” says Russell Robinson ’56, a partner at Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson in Charlotte and chairman of The Duke Endowment. “She has had a vision for Duke Law School which was inspired and inspiring, and she had the ability to put it into effect. We have been very, very fortunate to have her as our leader over these years.”

“It’s been a delight to watch her grow in the job and become recognized as one of the leading deans in the country,” says Peter Kahn ’76, who has worked closely with Bartlett as chair of the Law School’s Board of Visitors (BOV) since 2001. “She is a great listener and strategic thinker who has been supportive of many people and ideas, and at the same time has had the ability to say ‘no.’ She has led by example and quiet strength.”

The Honorable Christine Durham ’71, chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court, a life member of the BOV and a Duke University trustee, praises Bartlett’s mix of “competence and enthusiasm” and her infectious energy and investment in helping students and faculty succeed. “She has this capacity for people to perceive the degree to which she is working on behalf of everyone succeeding. Her ego seems completely invested in the advancement of the institution and the people who serve it as a whole, rather than her own. I think she is remarkable.”

Bartlett has indeed propelled the Law School on a continual upward trajectory in every respect – recruiting 17 top scholars to the faculty and, in so doing, consolidating its strength in strategic core areas; cementing a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration; adding two new interdisciplinary research centers based at the Law School and six new clinical programs, with a seventh in the works; overseeing the design and fundraising for facilities upgrades that have transformed the School inside and out; admitting consecutive classes of JD and LLM students distinguished by academic accomplishment, experience, and diversity; setting fundraising records; deepening ties with international alumni and institutions by initiating overseas meetings of the Board of Visitors; overseeing placement of graduates in the top law firms in the country, in an increasing number of judicial clerkships, and in academia; establishing and promoting a culture of leadership, intellectual engagement, and service – and the list goes on. Theresa Newman ’88, associate dean for academic affairs, notes one of Bartlett’s most remarkable achievements: “She has ‘grown’ the Law School in faculty size, programming, and reputation, while preserving and even strengthening the School’s culture of collegiality, collaboration, and community.”