St. Thomas University in July appointed a former circuit judge from Orange County to lead its Benjamin L. Crump College of Law.
Dean Tarlika Nunez-Navarro met with the community on Sept. 28, including STU Law graduate Miami Lakes Councilman Josh Dieguez.
When Nunez-Navarro’s hiring was announced, St. Thomas University President David A. Armstrong said in a press release that she is “an exceptional legal professional, and an extraordinary human being.”
He predicted Nunez-Navarro’s “leadership skills, commitment to transformative legal education and dedication to our student population” will be “hallmarks of her deanship.”
Nunez-Navarro, a STU law school alumna, said in the release, “I look forward to this next chapter with STU as we embark upon our mission to serve, uplift and empower our next generation of lawyers to strive for excellence and accountability to our legal community and beyond.”
Nunez-Navarro previously was a criminal defense attorney and an assistant state attorney in Broward County. Republican governors Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis appointed her to the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County and the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange County.
At STU, she replaced Interim Dean and Professor Emeritus John Makdisi.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami, STU said. In February, the law school was named for Crump, an acclaimed personal injury and civil rights attorney who earned his degrees at Florida State. His law firm donated $1 million to the law school, which along with other gifts began a capital campaign to construct a new building on campus.
Welcoming the new dean are, from left: Miami Lakes Councilman Josh Dieguez (Class of ’17); St. Thomas University President David A. Armstrong, J.D.; The Honorable Tarlika Nunez-Navarro, dean of St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law; Javier Ley Soto (Class of ’05), general counsel at Miami Dade College and Isis Pacheo Velasco, Esq. (Class of ’07), St. Thomas University College of Law, Board of Advisors.