Ryan W. Scott

When he first interviewed for a position on the faculty at Indiana University's Maurer School of Law, Professor Ryan W. Scott had never set foot in Indiana. A native of Minnesota and a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, he admits to some divided loyalties when he arrived on campus. "The first time I watched the Gophers play at Assembly Hall," he says, "I didn't know when to cheer." But eight years later, he considers himself a Hoosier through and through. "I've fallen in love with this place. It's an extraordinary faculty and a first-rate university, and I count myself very lucky to be here."

Before joining the law faculty, Professor Scott criss-crossed the country working in some of the nation's premiere litigation shops. In Salt Lake City, Utah, he clerked for Judge Michael W. McConnell of the United States Court of Appeals. In Washington, D.C., he joined the U.S. Justice Department as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. He has also worked for large law firms in Chicago and Washington, including a two-year stint as an associate in the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group at O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

In the Maurer Classroom

Since then, however, he has found a home at IU, where he is entering his seventh year as a professor. He teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, and federal courts, and much of his research centers on criminal sentencing and separation-of-powers questions concerning the federal judiciary. This spring, he was thrilled to learn that the University's Board of Trustees voted to approve his tenure and promotion to full professor. That decision came on the heels of equally exciting personal news: Professor Scott and his boyfriend Cameron Bryan, an IU alum and Bloomington native, announced that they are engaged to be married.

Professor Scott finds it particularly rewarding to serve as faculty advisor to Outlaw, the law school's LGBT student group, and as a liaison to the law school's LGBT Alumni Board. He explains: "I was a student when the Court decided Lawrence v. Texas, and our student group helped persuade the faculty to join a constitutional challenge to military recruiting on campus during 'don't ask, don't tell.' Today, the issues are different-marriage equality, protections for transgender people-but student activism and involvement are still critically important."

Off campus, Professor Scott co-chairs a committee of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association focused on LGBT issues. In that capacity, he was instrumental in advancing a resolution, formally adopted last year by the ABA, that condemns the so-called "gay panic" and "trans panic" defenses and calls for legislative reform. Last fall, California became the first state in the nation to enact laws designed to eliminate those defenses, and similar bills are under consideration in three other states. "That's the best part of working at Indiana," he says. "I get to teach remarkable students while still doing the kind of work that makes a difference."