Diane C. Yu is the Incoming Dean for the Golden Gate University School of Law and Special Advisor to the GGU President. She is a distinguished higher education and legal profession leader with extensive experience in university administration, governance, public service, and leadership development.

Diane served for more than 20 years in senior leadership roles at New York University, including twelve years as Chief of Staff and Deputy to NYU President John Sexton and three years as NYU’s Deputy President. Upon President Sexton’s retirement, she became Advisor to Leadership at NYU Abu Dhabi, one of NYU’s three flagship campuses.

In addition to her administrative leadership, Diane taught leadership and public speaking at NYU and developed innovative educational programs, including the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Scholars Program and the NYU Abu Dhabi Summer Academy. She also served on the Board of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

Prior to her work in higher education, Diane served as General Counsel for the State Bar of California, for whom she argued and won dozens of cases in the California Supreme Court and a case in the U.S. Supreme Court., She was Managing Counsel at a Fortune 250 company, a California Superior Court Commissioner, a White House Fellow, and an attorney in private practice in Oakland, CA. An active bar leader, she chaired the California Committee of Bar Examiners and was the first woman of color to chair the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar and the first Asian American to chair any ABA section or division in the organization’s history. She was the first woman of color to chair the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession, co-founded the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and was President of the White House Fellows Foundation and Association.

Diane earned a B.A. from Oberlin College, a J.D. from Berkeley Law School, and a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the City University of New York. She chaired the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors for six years, was a member of the Golden Gate University Board of Trustees for three years, and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Civic Education and Pink Fang, an experimental theater in New York.