New Faculty Chair Appointments Beginning Fall 2025
September 9 2025—Mark C. Alexander, The Arthur J. Kania Dean of the ֱ University Charles Widger School of Law, recently announced two new faculty chair appointments beginning in fall 2025. Professor Todd Aagaard is the Heller McGuinness Leadership Chair and Professor Jennifer O’Hare is the Martin G. McGuinn Chair in Business Law. The inaugural chairholders for these positions were Professor Doris DelTosto Brogan and Professor Richard Booth, respectively.
A reflection of academic and faculty excellence at ֱ Law, endowed chairs recognize faculty who have achieved great distinction and serve as leaders through exemplary teaching, scholarship and service.
“I am gratified and excited to see both Professors Aagaard and O’Hare take on these new roles as they continue to guide our students toward their legal careers, support their own legal scholarship and share their expertise with our community,” said Dean Alexander. “I look forward to all they will accomplish in these positions.”
Aagaard joined the ֱ Law faculty in 2008 and served as vice dean of the Law School from 2015 to 2019. His scholarship focuses on the fields of environmental law, energy law and administrative law, and he has published numerous articles in leading law journals andwritten leading books.Aagaard has been heavily involved in the law school’s leadership training, including the Professional Development program, the Widger Summit, an all-day leadership development summit withCharles Widger ’73, currentWidger Leadership Scholarsand influential student and industry leaders, and Lawyers as Leaders, a program that encourages participating students to hone their individual leadership skills.
Aagaard succeeds Professor Brogan, a ֱ Law alumna who joined the faculty in 1983. “It is daunting and humbling to succeed Doris Brogan, who has done so much as a leader in the community and for ֱ Law over the years,” he said. “I am excited to build on Doris’s work and to bring new leadership experiences to our students.”
Jennifer O’Hare joined the ֱ Law faculty in 2000, having previously served as a member of the faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and the St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami. An expert in numerous areas of business law, her scholarship is frequently published in top journals. O’Hare has been a leader in upholding the law school’s Where Law Meets Business trademark focus, teaching and counseling countless students as they prepare for careers in high-end corporate and securities law. She has also increased the connection between ֱ Law and the Delaware Court of Chancery, the nation’s leading business law court.
“I'm sincerely honored to be appointed to the Martin G. McGuinn Chair in Business Law, and I’m extremely grateful for Marty McGuinn’s generosity and steadfast commitment to the school,” O’Hare said. “The chair provides the resources enabling me to focus on my scholarship in corporate governance and to continue educating the next generation of ֱ business lawyers who’ll follow in Marty’s respected footsteps.”