South Sound Hybrid Hub: University of Puget Sound Launch
We cordially invite you to celebrate the University of Puget Sound as Seattle University School of Law's newest South Sound Hybrid Hub Partner Institution.
Please join us to learn more about this Hybrid Hub initiative to make legal education and careers more accessible to residents of the South Sound region. This partnership will provide significant in-person and virtual instruction, programming, advising, networking, employment, and experiential learning opportunities and resources for Puget Sound graduate students through Seattle U Law’s pathbreaking Flex JD hybrid-online degree program.
Date: Monday, September 15th, 2025
Time: 6 - 7:30 p.m.
Location:
University of Puget Sound
Susie L. Wilson ’87 Welcome Center
1500 N. Warner St. (Corner of N. 15th St. and N. Alder St.)
Tacoma, WA 98416
RSVP: https://events.seattleu.edu/event/copy-of-south-sound-hybrid-hub-univ-of-puget-sound-launch#
Featuring remarks from:
Andrew Kerkhoff
Provost, University of Puget Sound
Anthony E. Varona
Dean, Seattle University School of Law
And a panel including:
Associate Chief Justice Charles W. Johnson '76
Washington State Supreme Court
Charles William Johnson was born in Tacoma, Washington. He graduated from Curtis High School in the Tacoma area. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington in 1974. While working full-time at a lumber mill in Tacoma, he attended the University of Puget Sound School of Law —now known as Seattle University School of Law — and graduated in 1976. Justice Johnson was elected to the Washington State Supreme Court and began his distinguished tenure in January 1991, making him the longest-serving member of the court. He has been re-elected multiple times, including in 1996, 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020, and continues to serve, with his current term running through 2027. Justice Johnson is deeply involved in legal academia. He holds the position of Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Seattle U Law. From 1995 to 2010, he served as an adjunct professor, teaching a comprehensive seminar on state constitutional law, alongside courses in federal constitutional law, legal writing, oral advocacy, and brief writing. He has authored significant updates to Washington search and seizure law publications in collaboration with Seattle University students in various years — 1998, 2005, 2013, and 2019. In recognition of his commitment to legal education, he received the prestigious 2012 John J. McAulay Legal Educator Award. Justice Johnson has been a committed community leader throughout his career. He co-chaired the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission from 1994 to 2018, co-led the 2004 Task Force on Civil Equal Justice Funding, and chaired the Supreme Court’s Rules Committee until 2023. His civic contributions extend across numerous organizations: the Washington Association for Children and Parents; UW School of Social Work; the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative; various youth scholarship programs and nonprofits such as the YMCA, Boys & Girls Clubs, food banks, and more.
Justice G. Helen Whitener
Washington State Supreme Court
Justice G. Helen Whitener earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in international marketing and trade from Baruch College, City University of New York, in 1988. Driven by a passion for justice and inspired by her family and mentors, she entered Seattle University School of Law in 1995 and earned her Juris Doctor (JD) degree in 1998. After law school, Justice Whitener honed her legal skills with more than 25 jury trials under her belt, including work as a prosecutor in Tacoma and at the Attorney General’s Office, handling dependency and other criminal matters. Her judicial career began when she served as a judge on the Washington State Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, starting in 2013, followed by her appointment to the Pierce County Superior Court in 2015 — making her the county’s youngest woman of color on the bench and the state’s first openly Black LGBTQ judge. In April 2020, Governor Jay Inslee appointed Whitener to the Washington Supreme Court, succeeding Justice Charles Wiggins. She officially began her term on April 24, 2020, and later won election to continue serving on the high court. Justice Whitener is an inspiring trailblazer, the first openly LGBTQ, Black woman to serve on the Washington Supreme Court, and among the first in the nation. She has been a relentless advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the judiciary. She co-chairs the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission, chairs the Equity and Fairness Committee of the Washington State Superior Court Judges’ Association, serves on the Office of Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee, and is actively involved with national judicial groups, including the International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges and the National Association of Women Judges. Justice Whitener and her wife, Lynn Rainey (also a Seattle U Law alum), made a joint appearance in 2019 when Whitener was named Woman of the Year.
In recognition of her leadership and impact, Justice Whitener has received multiple honors:
- Seattle U Law Woman of the Year (2019)
- Charles Z. Smith Excellence in Diversity APEX Award (2019) from the Washington State Bar Association.
She also founded the Color of Justice Program, designed to inspire minority girls to consider legal careers through direct interaction with female judges.
Judge Gretchen Leanderson '87 (retired)
Judge Gretchen Leanderson is a lifelong Pacific Northwest resident and a 1987 alum of the School of Law. After graduation, she served in the Washington State Attorney General’s office for 26 years in the SHS Division, Torts Division, and Tacoma Division. In 2014, Leanderson was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee to the Pierce County Superior Court. During this tenure, she served on the Superior Court Executive Committee, Juvenile Court Executive Committee, as presiding judge at Juvenile Court, and twice as the Drug Court judge. In addition, she has served as a co-chair of the Washington State Superior Court Judges’ Association’s (SCJA) Family and Juvenile Law Committee, as well as on the SCJA IT Governance, Therapeutic Courts, and Civil Law and Rules Committees. Outside of her professional responsibilities, she has continued to contribute to her community. She has consistently presented on ethics and professionalism at the Tacoma Pierce County Bar Association and at Seattle University School of Law, in addition to retaining membership with the Robert J. Bryan Inns of Court and Pierce County Washington Women Lawyers, who granted her the Legacy Award in 2016. Leanderson retired at the end of 2024, concluding an impressive career.