Jacob Smith ‘23
Professor Liaison Editor
As the semester starts, Jack Brown and I had the chance to sit down (virtually) with one of the Law School’s newest professors, Professor Joy Milligan. Professor Milligan (together with her husband, Professor Bertrall Ross) agreed to come to UVA from Berkeley last semester, adding to the already-stacked ranks of brilliant UVA constitutional scholars. But don’t be surprised if you have not heard much about either of them yet. Professors Milligan and Ross are currently in Germany, and will make their UVA debuts this fall.
But let’s start at the beginning. In undergrad, Professor Milligan started out at Harvard as a Physics major before switching to Social Studies. After spending some time working in the Dominican Republic and Mexico, she went back to school for a Masters of Public Administration. Then came law school. At that point, Professor Milligan said, she thought academia was definitely her goal. But, as with many law students, plans changed: Professor Milligan ended up getting “pulled into” public interest and civil rights law, working on civil rights and discrimination litigation at the NAACP after law school. Still, all along, academia seemed like it would be a good move eventually. While working at the NAACP was a good experience that Professor Milligan still misses sometimes, after a few years it was time to move toward academia.
But Professor Milligan thought she was not quite ready to be a law school professor: she wanted more training, more time to think about big questions. In particular, she found herself wondering why there was still such inequality despite all the effort and progress that had been made in civil rights. So a PhD in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at Berkeley was the next stop. Professor Milligan thought her focus would likely be law and economics, but she found herself more drawn to legal history, which allowed for a broader and more holistic approach to scholarship. Getting a PhD sounds pretty challenging, but Professor Milligan described it as an enjoyable experience: “I love law. I think it’s endlessly fascinating.” She also described a PhD as a “luxury item,” the opportunity to be dedicated to your own research for years at a time. (We didn’t get the chance to talk much about that research, but Professor Milligan’s dissertation examined resistance to Brown v. Board of Education in the administrative state.)
By the time her PhD wrapped up in 2018, Professor Milligan had already jumped into teaching at Berkeley. She described the transition as a “big shift.” Despite its perks, a PhD doesn’t really teach you how to teach, so it was necessary to learn on the job. But Professor Milligan has found teaching “really gratifying,” and she especially enjoys teaching 1Ls, meeting public interest students, and “liv[ing] vicariously” through them. One unique course that she taught at Berkeley, and hopes to teach at UVA, is called “Civil Rights & Anti-Discrimination Law” and studies the substance of statutory civil rights protections.
What prompted the move to UVA? While UVA’s oft-cited “collegiality” definitely contributed—and it helped that UVA also wanted to hire her husband—location was undoubtedly also an element. Professor Milligan thought Charlottesville was beautiful during a visit last spring. (She was surprised to learn that Charlottesville is even more beautiful in the fall!) And she is also glad to be moving to a more affordable and less congested part of the country after spending many years in the Bay Area.
But, as mentioned, Professor Milligan isn’t here yet. Currently she and her husband are working in Germany at the American Academy of Berlin with a multidisciplinary group that includes novelists, a public health expert, historians, journalists, and even a cartoonist, as well as other specialists. In the spring she will work on some other academic projects before making the long-awaited move to Charlottesville in time for the fall semester. The short days have left Professor Milligan “really excited” for spring, and COVID worries have limited the opportunities to have fun, but we were told that it’s still been a nice change of pace to live in such a “cosmopolitan” city, catch some “football” games, and avoid driving for a year.
Professor Milligan has also appreciated getting the chance to visit other parts of Europe. Travel and “family adventures” rank high on the list of things she likes to do in her spare time. Other hobbies include hiking and going to her fourteen-year-old son’s soccer games. (She and her family are already planning for tryouts in Charlottesville for the fall.) While Professor Milligan worried this list of hobbies sounded “boring,” we would heartily disagree. Charlottesville is the perfect place for a sophisticated legal scholar who also appreciates the joys of family and the outdoors, and we are excited to welcome Professor Milligan to her new home!
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js3hp@virginia.edu