Mary-Rose Papandrea

Mary-Rose Papandrea joined the Carolina Law faculty in 2015 and serves as the Samuel Ashe Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law. Her teaching and research interests include constitutional law, media law, civil procedure, national security, and torts. Papandrea is the author of numerous book chapters and articles on media law and First Amendment topics, including universities and speech, government secrecy and the press, public employee speech rights, and government speech. Her work has appeared in the Michigan Law Review, Northwestern Law Review, and Minnesota Law Review, among others. She is the co-author of the casebook Media and the Law (2nd ed. 2014) (with Lee Levine and David Ardia).

Papandrea attended Yale College and the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as the Topics & Comments Editor of the Chicago Law Review and graduated with High Honors. After law school, Papandrea clerked for Associate Justice David H. Souter of the United States Supreme Court as well as Judge Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Judge John G. Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She practiced law at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. and taught at Boston College Law School prior to joining Carolina Law.

Papandrea served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2016-2021 and received the Charles E. Daye Award for Excellence in Service in 2020.  From July 2021 to June 2022, she led the University’s strategic initiative “Promote Democracy.”