James R. Rasband new associate academic vice president at BYU

Academic Vice President John S. Tanner has announced the appointment of James R. Rasband as the new associate academic vice president for faculty at Brigham Young University effective Jan. 14, 2008.

He replaces Richard N. Williams, who will be assuming another administrative and university leadership position in coming months.

“I appreciate the many years of dedicated service that Richard has provided to the university in this challenging assignment,” said Tanner. “I also welcome Jim with his superb background. His great combination of spirit, mind and heart will allow him to make a wonderful contribution in this critical assignment. I am grateful for his willingness to serve.”

Rasband’s primary responsibility will be supervising faculty hiring, rank and status matters and faculty personnel issues, said Tanner.

A BYU alumnus, Rasband received his juris doctorate from Harvard University in 1989. He was a law clerk in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and an attorney for Perkins Coie before joining the faculty at the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1995, where he is the Hugh W. Colton Professor of Law. He has served as associate dean for research and academic affairs since 2004.

His primary areas of expertise are public land law (including public lands legal history), water law, wilderness and grazing law, regulations covering the national park and national monuments and international environmental law.

He is a co-author, along with James Salzman at Duke University and Mark Squillace at the University of Colorado, of “Natural Resources Law and Policy,” a casebook that is used in law schools around the country.