University of Georgia
School of Law
305 Dean Rusk Hall
Athens, GA 30602
United States
B.A., Eastern Kentucky University
J.D., University of Kentucky
Labor Law
Employment Discrimination
Employment Law
Labor Arbitration
Comparative Labor Law
Rebecca Hanner White, Dean and J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law Emerita at the University of Georgia School of Law, served as dean of the law school from 2003 to 2015. Previously, she served as associate provost and associate vice president of academic affairs for UGA. She specializes in the areas of labor law, employment discrimination, employment law and labor arbitration. White retired from the law school on May 31, 2016.
White's scholarship, cited by federal and state courts across the country, includes numerous articles and books on employment discrimination and labor law. In 2000, White received the Josiah Meigs Award, UGA's highest honor for teaching excellence. She was selected by law students six times as the recipient of the Faculty Book Award for Excellence in Teaching and also received the John C. O'Byrne Memorial Award for Contributions Furthering Student-Faculty Relations. She served as a UGA Senior Teaching Fellow in 2000-01 and was inducted into UGA's Teaching Academy. In 2002, she was selected as a Senior Faculty Fellow for the university's Foundation Fellows program. In 2015, she received both the law school's Distinguished Service Scroll Award and the UGA Alumni Association's Faculty Service Award. In 2024, she received the university's President's Medal.
She served on the ABA Section of Legal Education Accreditation Committee from August 2011 until August 2016, chairing the committee during her last two years of service. From 2018 to 2020, White served on the ABA Section of Legal Education Council and, from 2021 to 2024, she served as co-chair of the council's strategic review committee.
White earned her undergraduate degree from Eastern Kentucky University and graduated first in her class from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the Kentucky Law Journal. She served as a judicial law clerk to Chief Judge George C. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, then practiced labor and employment law at the law firm Dinsmore & Shohl in Cincinnati, Ohio, before beginning her teaching career at UGA.
BOOKS
Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination, 8th ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2013) (with Michael J. Zimmer and Charles A. Sullivan)
- Case and Statutory Supplement 2014
- Case and Statutory Supplement 2015
- Case and Statutory Supplement 2016
Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination, 7th ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2008) (with Michael J. Zimmer and Charles A. Sullivan)
- Statutory Supplement 2008
- Case and Statutory Supplement 2009
- Case and Statutory Supplement 2011
Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination, 6th ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2003) (with Michael J. Zimmer and Charles A. Sullivan)
- Case Supplement 2005
Employment Discrimination: Law & Practice, 3rd ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2002) (with Michael J. Zimmer and Charles A. Sullivan)
- Case Supplement 2004
- Case Supplement 2005
- Case Supplement 2006
- Case Supplement 2007
Case Supplement 2002 to Cases and Materials on Employment Discrimination, 5th ed. (Aspen Publishers, 2000) (with Michael J. Zimmer, Charles A. Sullivan, and Richard F. Richards)
Employment Law and Employment Discrimination: Essential Terms and Concepts. (Aspen Law and Business, 1998).
SCHOLARLY ARTICLES
Aging on Air: Sex, Age and Television News, 50 Seton Hall L. Rev.1323 (2020).
Title VII and the #MeToo Movement, 68 Emory L.J. Online 1014 (2018).
Taking on an Industry: Women and Directing in Hollywood, 20 Emp. Rts. & Emp. Pol'y J. 229 (2016) (with M. Zimmer and C. Sullivan).
I Do Know How She Does It (But Sometimes I Wish I Didn't), 11 Wm. & Mary J. of Women & L. 209 (2005) (invited symposium essay).
Affirmative Action in the Workplace: The Significance of Grutter?, 92 Ky. L.J. 263 (2004) (invited symposium essay).
Arbitration and the Administrative State, 38 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1283 (2003).
Whose Motive Matters?: Discrimination in Multi-Actor Employment Decision-Making, 61 La. L. Rev. 495 (2001) (invited symposium article).
Deference and Disability Discrimination, 99 Mich. L. Rev. 522 (2000).
There's Nothing Special about Sex: The Supreme Court Mainstreams Sexual Harassment, 7 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 725 (1999) (invited symposium essay).
De Minimis Discrimination, 47 Emory L.J. 1121 (1998).
Modern Discrimination Theory and the National Labor Relations Act, 39 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 99 (1997).
Vicarious and Personal Liability for Employment Discrimination, 30 Ga. L. Rev. 562 (1996) (invited symposium article).
The EEOC, the Courts, and Employment Discrimination Policy: Recognizing the Agency's Leading Role in Statutory Interpretation, 1995 Utah L. Rev. 51.
The Proper Role of After-acquired Evidence in Employment Discrimination Litigation, 35 B.C. L. Rev. 49 (1993) (with Robert D. Brussack).
The Stare Decisis "Exception" to the Chevron Deference Rule, 44 Fla. L. Rev. 723 (1992).
The Statutory and Constitutional Limits of Using Protected Speech as Evidence of Unlawful Motive under the National Labor Relations Act, 53 Ohio St. L. J. 1 (1992).
Time for a New Approach: Why the Judiciary Should Disregard the "Law of the Circuit" When Confronting Nonacquiescence by the National Labor Relations Board, 69 N.C. L. Rev. 639 (1991).
Section 301's Preemption of State Law Claims: a Model for Analysis, 41 Ala. L. Rev. 377 (1990).
Ohio's Public Employee Bargaining Law: Can it Withstand Constitutional Challenge?, 53 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1 (1984) (with Robert E. Kaplan and Michael W. Hawkins).
Note, Wanted: A Strict Contractual Approach to the Private University-Student Relationship, 68 Ky. L.J. 439 (1980).
BOOK CHAPTERS
Commentary on Clark County School District v. Breeden in Feminist Judgments: Employment Discrimination, A. McGinley and N. Porter, eds. (Cambridge University Press 2020)
"Be Passionate, Appreciative, and Decisive" in Law School Leadership Strategies: Top Deans on Benchmarking Success, Incorporating Feedback from Faculty and Students, and Building the Endowment. (Aspatore Books, 2006).
United States entry in International Encyclopedia of Labour Law and Industrial Relations (R. Blanpain, ed, Kluwer 2002) (also published as a separate national monograph).
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Milner Ball: Mentor, Teacher, and Friend, 41 Ga. L. Rev. 743 (2007).
PAPERS AND ADDRESSES
"Outlawing Age Discrimination in the Workplace: The U.S. Approach," German Society for Comparative Law, Labor Law Division, Wurzburg, Germany, September 2005
"I Do Know How She Does It (But Sometimes I Wish I Didn't)," Symposium on the Attrition of Women from the Legal Profession, Marshall-Wythe College of Law, William & Mary, April 2004
"The Proper Role for a Tangible or Adverse Action Inquiry in Employment Discrimination Cases," Southern District of Georgia Federal Judicial Conference, February 2004
"Employment Law Update" presented to the Individual Rights Section of the Georgia Bar, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2002
"Individual Disparate Treatment Theory," presented at the Appellate Judges Conference, Breckenridge, Colorado August 2001
"Understanding Ellerth," presented at the Oxford Roundtable, St. Anthony's College, Oxford University August 2001
"Whose Motive Matters"? Symposium on the Reeves Decison, Louisiana State University School of Law, January 2001
"Individual Disparate Treatment Theory," presented at the Appellate Judges Conference, Quebec July 2000
"Employment Law Update," presented to the Individual Rights Section of the Georgia Bar, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2000
"Labor and Employment Law in the Supreme Court: October 1998 Term," presented to the 29th Annual Labor and Employment Law Institute. Atlanta, Georgia December 1999
"Labor and Employment Law in the Supreme Court: October 1996 term," presented to the Carl A. Warns Labor & Employment Law Institute, University of Louisville School of Law, June 1997
"Developments in Labor Law Preemption," presented to the Labor and Employment Law Section of the Atlanta Bar, October 1991
"Honey, They Shrunk the Statutes: A Review of the Supreme Court's 1988-89 Term," 19th Annual Labor and Employment Law Institute, Atlanta, Georgia December 1989