Sommer Dean

Courses 

• Media Law & Ethics
• Writing for Media Markets
• Reporting/Writing for Media

Degrees

• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Baylor University (2010)
• Juris Doctorate (J.D.), Georgetown University Law Center (2015)

Year you started with Baylor

• 2021

Background:

• Sommer Ingram Dean is a former journalist, licensed attorney, and the Fred Hartman Distinguished Professor at Baylor. Sommer’s areas of interest and expertise are media law and ethics issues, including freedom of speech, media freedom, and access to information.

Accomplishments:

• Staff attorney at the Student Press Law Center, a nonprofit that promotes, supports and defends the First Amendment rights of student journalists and their advisers.
• During law school, worked for NPR’s legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg, and covered major issues at the Supreme Court.
• Intern in the Washington Post’s legal department.
• Reporter for the Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News based in Austin, Texas, focused on legislative reporting, higher education, and court reporting.

Interest & Hobbies:

• Spending time with my husband and daughter
• Buying too many books
• Binge-watching all the former seasons of Survivor

Favorite thing about teaching:

Getting to know and work closely with students during such an exciting time of their lives.