Lydia Herman Lazar – Interim Board President
Associate Dean, Recruitment and Career Development
University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy
Associate Dean Lazar is responsible for the offices of Admissions and Career Development at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, where she helps to shape and directly manage the school’s recruiting, admissions, and career development activities for all degree programs. She is further responsible for developing and implementing new outreach and marketing strategies to enhance the caliber and quantity of applications to the Harris School, and for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative procedures within the admissions and career development offices. Also, she helps lead the school’s efforts to enhance the impact of faculty, students and graduates in both domestic and international policy arenas.
From 2001-2010, as the Assistant Dean for International Law and Policy Development at Chicago-Kent College of Law, Ms. Lazar was responsible for a broad expansion of Chicago-Kent’s international initiatives and programs. During Dean Lazar’s tenure the school developed robust graduate law programs in International and Comparative Law, International Intellectual Property Law and Financial Services Law. She developed a strong network of institutional partners for academic exchange in Europe, Asia and Latin America, convened a wide range of symposia, speaker events and conferences, and implemented an innovative overseas teaching program to enable Chinese and Thai attorneys to study with Chicago-Kent faculty in China and Thailand before coming to Chicago to complete an LL.M. degree.
Ms. Lazar has also directed an energy conservation program for non-profit organizations, worked as a consultant in Mexico City evaluating urban agriculture and urban forestry programs, and researched aquifer contamination on Long Island.
Lydia Lazar holds an A.B. degree in International Relations from Dartmouth College, a Master’s Degree in Geography from Columbia University, and a J.D. with honors from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lazar was an executive with Waste Management International in London, and she served as chief of staff to the Executive Director of the Division of Public Structures in the Koch Administration in New York City. A member of the Illinois Bar, Ms. Lazar practiced in the corporate and securities group of Sachnoff & Weaver (now Reed Smith LLP) prior to joining Chicago-Kent as Assistant Dean.
