Courses

Communications Law, Administrative Law, Legal Methods, and Professional Responsibility

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Biography

Professor Patricia M. Worthy is the former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

Dean Worthy received the Distinguished Faculty Author Award from the President and Provost of the University in April 2001. Professor Worthy is also the 2001 recipient of the prestigious Warren S. Rosmarin Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service.

Dean Worthy is active in the field of telecommunications, having served this past year as an advisor to the District of Columbia Public Service Commission in its regulatory proceeding, In the Matter of Investigation into the Impact of the AT&T Divestiture and Decisions of The FCC. She also served recently as an expert witness on behalf of AT&T in the federal district court proceeding, United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc. in the District of Columbia.

Before joining the full-time faculty, Dean Worthy most recently served as Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel to the Mayor of the District of Columbia and was a member of the adjunct faculty for several years. She was a member of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia from 1980-1991, serving as Chair from March 1984-May 1991. Prior to her public service with the D.C. government, she served as deputy assistant secretary at H.U.D. from 1977 to 1980. She also practiced law as an associate with former dean Wiley Branton at the firm of Dolphin, Branton, Stafford, & Webber from 1973-1977.

Dean Worthy is the author of The Impact of New and Emerging Telecommunications Technologies: A Call to the Rescue of the Attorney-Client Privilege, 39 Howard L.J. 195 (1996) and Diversity and Minority Stereotyping in the Television Media: The Unsettled First Amendment Issue, 18:3 Hastings L.J. (1996). She is currently researching the implications of “universal service” on regulatory forbearance and deregulation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

In 1996 Dean Worthy was a panelist at the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Courts in a program on “Solving the Civility Problem in the Legal Profession: What Will Work?” She also served as a 1996 delegate to the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit held in Williamsburg, Virginia. Professor Worthy recently resigned from the Board of Trustees for the public broadcast station WETA in Washington, DC having served in that capacity for more than ten years. Also, she was recently elected to the Board of Directors of Yankee Energy System, Inc. A publicly-traded gas distribution company located in Connecticut.

Dean Worthy was named Interim Dean of the School of Law on July 5, 2002 by Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert and served in that capacity until January 6, 2003, when the Hon. Kurt L. Schmoke assumed the deanship. In addition to a previous stint as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs during the 2001-2002 academic year, Dean Worthy chaired the Law School Self-Study Committee from 1999-2001. For many years Dean Worthy served as Chairman of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission, which is charged with recommending candidates for federal and local judicial appointments to the President of the United States. Professor Worthy also directs the Judicial Law Clerkship Program.

Publications

Professional Contributions