Gonzaga University School of Law founded the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning in 1991, and Gonzaga professor Gerry Hess served as the Institute's director from 1991 through 2005. The Institute is currently sponsored by the Washburn University School of Law, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law, and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law. The members of the Institute's current leadership team are:
Professor Colatrella is also a noted scholar on legal education. He co-developed McGeorge's innovative, required first-year course "The Legal Profession," and is a nationally sought-after contributor on legal education reform issues.
Professor Colatrella can be contacted at mcolatrella@pacific.edu.
Before transitioning to a teaching career, Professor Grant was senior court counsel for the Palau Supreme Court, which serves the small island nation located in the Pacific Ocean. She also clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, and the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.
Professor Grant can be contacted at emily.grant@washburn.edu.
Prior to joining the law school, she clerked and then served as staff attorney for several Utah trial court judges. Professor Gustafson is a graduate of the J. Reuben Clark School of Law, Brigham Young University, where she was the Executive Editor of the Brigham Young University Law Review and elected to the Order of the Coif.
Professor Gustafson can be contacted at lpgustafson@ualr.edu.
Professor Sandra Simpson serves as the Institute’s Communications Director. She joined law faculty at Gonzaga University School of Law as an Assistant Professor of Legal Research and Writing in August 2007 and was promoted to Associate Professor in August of 2012. She served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from 2013 – 2017. Professor Simpson joined the Institute for Law Teaching and Learning as a contributing faculty member in the fall of 2008. Professor Simpson took over as the co-director of the Institute in the fall of 2013. As a contributing faculty member and co-director, Professor Simpson has edited a book for Carolina Academic Press, writes for The Law Teacher, organizes and writes for the Institute’s teaching blog, organizes and presents at numerous conferences, and participates in training of international law teachers. Professor Simpson also researches, publishes, and speaks in the area of assessment, rubric creation and utilization, and teaching.
Prior to joining the law faculty at Gonzaga Law School, Professor Simpson spent three years teaching at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. Before entering the teaching field, she spent two years in general practice in Iowa City, Iowa, and five years as an employment defense litigator for Workland and Witherspoon, P.L.L.C., in Spokane, Washington. She also has a Master’s in Teaching from Whitworth University.
Professor Simpson can be contacted at simpsons@gonzaga.edu.