Deans' Directory
Deans' Directory
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Beth Cohen
Interim Dean and Professor of Law
Professor Beth Cohen serves as Interim Dean of the School of Law as well as Director of the Legal Research and Writing Program. She teaches Lawyering Skills, Externship Seminar, Professional Responsibility, and Mindfulness in Law Practice. She currently serves on the Supreme Judicial Court Standing Advisory Committee on Professionalism and the Supreme Judicial Court Alternative Paths Subcommittee on Bar Admissions. She previously served as a long-time board member of Scribes, The American Society of Legal Writers. Professor Cohen served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2009-2020.
B.A., State University of New York at Stony Brook
J.D., Suffolk University Law School
Professor Cohen has taught at Western New England University School of Law since 1990. Prior to teaching at Western New England University, she served as a Law Clerk to the Honorable Michael A. Ponsor of the United States District Court in Springfield, MA, and worked as an Associate at a small general practice law firm in Boston. She also taught Legal Practice Skills at Suffolk University Law School, where, as a student, she served on their Law Review. She graduated cum laude from Suffolk University Law School and also earned a Diploma in Advanced International Legal Studies in Salzburg, Austria, from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge Law School. Professor Cohen, together with Professor Newcombe, also co-founded and co-directed the popular civic education Mini-Law School Program.
Email: bcohen@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1413
Office: 140 -
Erin Buzuvis
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law
Erin Buzuvis joined the faculty in 2006 and has served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs since 2020.
B.S., University of New Hampshire
J.D., Cornell Law School
Dean Buzuvis researches and writes about gender and discrimination in education and athletics, including such topics as Title IX's application to campus disciplinary proceedings for sexual assault, Title IX and college athletics reform, LGBTQ inclusion in high school and college athletics, and retaliation and related discrimination against female college coaches. She has been quoted in stories about Title IX in such media outlets as the New York Times, NPR, Sports Illustrated, Inside Higher Ed, and in many other national and local publications and broadcasts.
Dean Buzuvis teaches courses at the law school on administrative law, employment discrimination, Title IX, torts, property, and has co-directed our comparative gender law course in Israel. In addition, she has taught a course on LGBTQ policy issues at the Smith College School for Social Work, and in 2017 she co-taught a course on gender, human rights and sport at Utrecht University in the Netherlands on a grant from the Fulbright Specialist Program.
Prior to joining the faculty, Dean Buzuvis was an associate attorney at Goodwin Procter LLP in Boston and also clerked for Judge Thomas L. Ambro of the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Third Circuit. She also served as a visiting associate professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Faculty Profile Page
Email: ebuzuvis@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1405
Office: 141 -
Jordan Hall
Associate Dean of Student Affairs
Dean Jordan Hall graduated from Loyola Chicago with a J.D. and M.Ed. in Cultural Education Policy, where he was selected to be a Civitas Child Law Fellow. After law school Jordan served as a Clyde Murphy Fellow for the Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights where he mainly worked in their Education Equity Project defending the rights of students and families. Dean Hall served as the Director of Student Affairs, Campus Equity, and Inclusion at Detroit Mercy School of Law. At Detroit Mercy, he advised student organizations and developed programming and policies to promote a vibrant, inclusive law school environment. Dean Hall has served in multiple roles to achieve campus equity, including the campus disability liaison and a deputy Title IX Coordinator.
B.A., Morehouse College
M.Ed., Loyola University Chicago
J.D., Loyola University Chicago
Email: jordan.hall@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1376
Office: 143 -
Nicole Belbin
Associate Dean for Library and Information Resources
Nicole Belbin has been at Western New England University since 2005, holding a variety of librarian and administrative positions in the Library. She teaches Advanced Legal Research. She previously taught Legal Research and Writing at Bay Path University.
Professor of Law
B.S., Western New England University
M.S.L.I.S., Drexel University
J.D., Western New England University School of Law
Dean Belbin graduated magna cum laude from the School of Law in 2020. She is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries, NELLCO, and Law Librarians of New England, serving on numerous committees within these organizations. As part of her pro bono commitment, Dean Belbin volunteers regularly for Massachusetts Bar Association’s Dial-A-Lawyer and Hampden County Bar Association’s Legal Help Hotline programs.
Dean Belbin served in the United States Marine Corps. She is accredited by the Veterans’ Administration (VA) to assist veterans with filing VA claims. Her areas of interest include veterans’ rights, access to justice, and the role libraries play in student success.
Email: nicole.belbin@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1484
Office: 109 -
Justin Dion
Assistant Dean of Academic and Bar Success
Dean Dion is responsible for designing, administering and overseeing the Law School’s academic success programs and bar examination preparation efforts and activities, including teaching classes, counseling and working with students on an individual and group basis. The goal of his work is to help students be successful in law school, on the bar exam and in the legal profession. To help achieve these goals, Dean Dion also works closely with faculty, staff, outside speakers and commercial bar preparation companies. His work with students commences in a student’s first year of law school and continuing throughout the law school and after graduation.
Professor of Legal Skills
B.S., Southern Connecticut State University
M.A., Southern Connecticut State University
J.D., Western New England University School of Law
Dean Dion is a proud alumnus of Western New England University School of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Western New England Law Review. He is a certified mediator and is admitted to practice before the Massachusetts and Connecticut State and Federal Courts, The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has of counsel status at Bacon Wilson, P.C., in Springfield, Massachusetts, as a general practitioner who focuses his practice on bankruptcy, business matters, estate planning and real estate.Email: justin.dion@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1751
Office: 133 -
Adam Goguen
Assistant Dean of Career Services
J.D., Columbia University School of Law
B.S., Seton Hall University, John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy
Email: adam.goguen@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1424
Office: 25BDean Goguen works with both current students and alumni to provide personalized career advising, job search assistance, and to publicize internship and employment opportunities. His work is focused on ensuring that Western New England University School of Law students and graduates have the skills necessary to identify and secure internships and job opportunities that meet their long-term career goals.
Adam Goguen graduated from Seton Hall University with a B.S. in International Relations and from Columbia University Law School with a J.D. He has worked in both academic and administrative positions at universities in Sierra Leone and South Sudan, helping to reestablish educational institutions in post conflict countries.
Dean Goguen’s research focus was legal theory and legal pluralism, and he taught legal methods, legal research, and jurisprudence. He also held a variety of student services roles and worked as a consultant for rule of law and legal education initiatives.
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Rachel Szostak
Assistant Dean of Law Admissions
Administrator of Non-JD Programs
B.S., Boston University
J.D., New England Law | BostonRachel Szostak earned a BS in Business Administration from Questrom School of Business at Boston University, and graduated cum laude with a JD from New England Law | Boston. At NELB, Rachel was a member of the Law Review, recipient of the New England Scholar Award, and named to the Public Service Honor Roll. Rachel joined WNE Law in 2018 as the Assistant Director of Law Admissions and was promoted to Assistant Dean of Law Admissions in 2023. Prior to joining WNE Law, Rachel served as the Admissions Coordinator at New England Law | Boston and Senior Admissions Counselor at American International College.
Email: rachel.szostak@law.wne.edu
Phone: 413-782-1286
Office: 150
