Mathew S. Nosanchuk

Mathew S. Nosanchuk is the Lerner Family Associate Dean for Public Interest and Public Service Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law. In this role, he leads the Public Interest and Public Service Law Center and works to make public interest careers financially viable, build relationships with employers and GW Law alumni working in public interest, strengthen the public interest courses and programs, and create opportunities to broaden and deepen the law school community’s engagement with and commitment to public interest. 

Throughout his extensive public interest career – in the executive branch, the Senate and House, and in the non-profit and private sectors – Dean Nosanchuk has worked on a wide range of key domestic, national security, and foreign policy matters, with a particular focus on constitutional law, civil rights, and civil liberties issues. This includes work to counter antisemitism, sex discrimination, LGBTQ+ discrimination, and disability-based discrimination, including most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Strategic Operations and Outreach in the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education during the Biden administration. 

Dean Nosanchuk served during the Obama-Biden Administration in multiple senior roles, including serving as President Obama’s liaison to the American Jewish community in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and on the National Security Council staff, as Associate General Counsel for Legal Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security, as Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, and as Senior Advisor in the Office for Religion and and Global Affairs at the State Department. On Capitol Hill, Dean Nosanchuk served as General Counsel for U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and as Minority Special Counsel to the Ranking Member on the House Judiciary Committee staff. 

Dean Nosanchuk’s non-profit experience includes serving as the co-founder and inaugural executive director of the New York Jewish Agenda, a startup advocacy organization in New York. He also has extensive public interest legal experience, including working as a Skadden Fellows at the ACLU of Illinois and as Litigation Director and Legislative Counsel at the Violence Policy Center. 

Dean Nosanchuk has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught a civil rights law course on the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. He is the author of several law review articles, numerous op-eds, and has testified before Congress and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Dean Nosanchuk also has been quoted frequently on legal and policy issues in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, CNN, NPR, and other national media outlets.

Originally from Michigan, Dean Nosanchuk attended Stanford University and Stanford Law School, where he was a Harry S. Truman Scholar, Senior Note Editor on the Stanford Law Review. Upon graduating from law school, he clerked for the Hon. Walter Cummings, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. 

Dean Nosanchuk’s recognition for his civil rights work includes the Stephen M. Block Civil Liberties Award at Stanford Law School, the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award, and the American Bar Association's inaugural Stonewall Award.