Law School Hires Chief Human Resources Officer

Kevin B. Moody, an administrator at Emory’s school of law, will serve as Harvard Law School's next assistant dean and chief human resources officer.

Moody, who will assume his role at Harvard on Oct. 19, has served as the senior director of administration and chief human resources officer at Emory Law since 2007. Before his career in human resources, Moody was a captain in the Marine Corps.

By Annie E. Schugart

Martha L. Minow, the dean of the Law School, said in a statement that Moody “brings tremendous and deep experiences, from air traffic control operations work in the military to law school administration.”

Moody’s hiring comes as the Law School fills several administrative positions. In addition to Moody, Marcia L. Sells became the school’s new dean of students earlier this week. This summer, former chief human resources officer Marie H. Bowen departed Harvard for the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Ellen M. Cosgrove, the former dean of students, left for Yale.

The administrative turnover in the senior positions comes as the school rolls out a new process for responding to sexual assault cases.

According to the new adjudication process put into place this summer, a Law School-specific Title IX unit oversees investigations into student cases of sexual harassment, rather than the central office that handles cases at the rest of Harvard’s schools.

Cosgrove and Bowen were two of the three members of the school’s Title IX unit, and interim staff have filled their positions since they left. Now that Moody and Sells are joining Harvard, the composition of the Law School’s Title IX unit may change again.

“We will revisit composition of the Title IX Unit and roles after our new Dean of Students and our new Chief Human Resources Officer settle into their jobs,” Catherine Claypoole, the school's interim chief Title IX officer, wrote in an email.

With the new school-specific process now in place, Law School administrators are working to inform their students about the new rules. The school launched a mobile application last week that includes sexual harassment and assault resources, and it will host a Title IX information session on Thursday.

—Staff writer Andrew M. Duehren can be reached at andy.duehren@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @aduehren.