Jocelyn Benson

Benson was appointed dean of Wayne State Law School in December 2012 at the age of 35, becoming the youngest woman to lead a top 100 law school in United States history.[4] As dean she significantly expanded the law school's opportunities for experiential learning and established two "marquee" programs: the Levin Center at Wayne Law,[5] chaired by former United States Senator Carl Levin, and the Program on Entrepreneurship and Business Law,[6] which helps aspiring business professionals in underserved communities participate in the economic revival of Detroit. The PEBL program offers early-stage legal assistance to participating local startups and creates forums for entrepreneurs to receive general legal guidance, access community resources and share their own business experience. Prior to being appointed Dean in 2012, Benson was the Associate Director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights, where she started the Michigan Allies Project, an effort designed to track hate incidents throughout Michigan and provide legal support for victims.[7]

From 2016–2018 Benson served as CEO of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE),[8] where she led a coalition of all major sports leagues to empower athletes to advance equality. One of her major initiatives as CEO of RISE was to launch RISE to VOTE, a nonpartisan effort to register professional and college athletes to vote and encourage them to lead their fans in becoming informed and engaged citizens.

In 2012, Benson, a military spouse whose husband served in the U.S. Army as a sergeant with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, joined with three other military spouses and family members in Michigan to create Military Spouses of Michigan, a network dedicated to providing support and services to military family members and veterans in Michigan.[9] In January 2013, the group was selected to represent the state of Michigan in the Presidential Inaugural Parade; the only group of military spouses to receive that honor.[10]

In 2011, Benson was selected to serve with retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the national board of directors of iCivics, Inc., a nonprofit created by Justice O'Connor to improve civics education throughout the country.[11] In addition to serving as an appointed member of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Election Law,[3] she is also the founder and current director of the Michigan Center for Election Law, which hosts projects that support transparency and integrity in elections. In 2011 the center hosted Michigan's first "Citizens' Redistricting Competition",[12] providing an opportunity for Michigan citizens to access software and draw their own redistricting maps for the state.[13]

Benson developed and supervised three statewide nonpartisan election protection efforts in Michigan in 2007, 2008 and 2012.[3] During the 2008 election, she was called to testify before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee,[14] where she called on Secretary Terri Lynn Land to ban the use of foreclosure lists to challenge voters' eligibility on Election Day.[15] She is a frequent commentator on voting rights and election law on local news and radio broadcasts.[16][17][18]

In 2007, Benson worked with several groups to successfully keep a Secretary of State branch office open in Buena Vista Township, Michigan. The U.S. Department of Justice, under then-President George W. Bush, concluded that the closure of the office would violate the Voting Rights Act.[19]