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#Seton Hall Law to name veteran professor as new dean, report says

NEWARK Kathleen Boozang, a professor and associate dean at Seton Hall's law school, will be getting a promotion, according to a report in the New Jersey Law Journal.

Boozang has been tapped to be the law school's new dean, replacing Patrick Hobbs, who announced last year he plans to step down. Hobbs revealed Boozang's selection in an email to the faculty Friday afternoon, the report said.

Janet Lemonnier, the law school's director of communications, declined to comment on Hobb's email.

"A formal announcement will be made on Monday. We have no further comment at this time," Lemonnier said.

Hobbs has been dean of the Newark-based law school since 1999. He is scheduled to remain in the post until June, then take a one-year sabbatical and return to the law school to teach.

Gov. Chris Christie appointed Hobbs to the new post of ombudsman in the governor's office in the wake of the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal. Hobbs said he plans to remain ombudsman after stepping down as law school dean.

Boozang has been at Seton Hall since 1990 and is the founder of the law school's health law program, according to her bio on the school's website. She teaches health law courses and has spent her career focusing on religiously sponsored hospitals.

She holds degrees from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and Yale Law School.

As a private university, Seton Hall does not usually release the salaries of its administrators. But, Hobbs earned $424,853 in total compensation from Seton Hall as dean in 2011, according to the university's most recently available tax filing.