ATLANTA—Interim Dean Leslie Wolf has endowed an Equity Scholarship Fund at Georgia State University College of Law. The college’s Board of Visitors chair Beth Tanis generously matched her gift.
Both of their gifts will be matched by the Georgia State University Foundation as part of the StateWayMatch program.
“The legal profession has lagged behind many others in diversity and accessibility. This scholarship will provide additional support to our efforts at the College of Law to make the field open to all talented individuals,” Wolf said. “This gift aligns with my academic research, much of which has focused on justice in medicine, research, and public health.”
Beth Tanis, chair of the College of Law Board of Visitors
The need-based Equity Scholarship will be awarded to an incoming first-year law student and may be renewed annually at the discretion of the college. The first recipient of the Equity Scholarship is expected to enroll in fall 2021.
Tanis, who has been an attorney for 38 years, believes that the scholarship will allow the College of Law to seed more diverse lawyers and judges into the world, which is critical to American democracy.
“Lawyers and judges cannot be truly effective in whatever area of law they practice unless they have the benefit of the wisdom, voices and talent that diversity brings the profession,” Tanis said. “[My husband John] and I long for an America free of the barriers and deprivations systemic racism and other prejudices impose. I realize this Equity Scholarship is but a tiny step toward grappling with our country’s greatest sins, but it is a step that John and I, as mere individuals, can do.”