Faculty Profile

Biographical Information

Sally M. Rider is the Associate Dean for Administration at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. She is the founding co-Director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse. The NICD, established in February 2011 at the University of Arizona, is a nonpartisan center promoting civic engagement and civility in public discourse consistent with First Amendment principles. She is also the Director of the nonpartisan William H. Rehnquist Center on the Constitutional Structures of Government. The Center's mission is to promote greater public understanding of the role of the judicial branch in our system of government. Prior to becoming director of the Rehnquist Center, Ms. Rider served as Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice of the United States from August 2000 to September 2006. In that position, she served as the Court's chief of staff and assisted the Chief Justice in his overall management of the Court and with his other responsibilities as head of the Third Branch of government. From 1986 to 1987 Ms. Rider worked for Congressman Morris K. Udall as staff counsel to the U. S. House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. From 1987 to 1990 she was a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. She was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia from 1990 to 1995, and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1998 to 2000. From 1995 to 1998 she was an attorney supervising international litigation at the State Department. Ms. Rider received her B.A. from the University of Arizona, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, with high distinction, in 1980, and received her law degree with high distinction in 1986 from the University of Arizona College of Law.