Nora Demleitner’s Bio

Nora Demleitner was appointed by the Board of Visitors and Governors of St. John’s College in September 2021 and began her tenure as president of the college’s Annapolis campus in January 2022.

Small liberal arts education features prominently throughout Demleitner’s career and education. Immigrating from Germany as a teenager, she pursued her undergraduate degree at Bates College, where she earned a BA in American studies. She received her JD from Yale and her LLM from Georgetown in international and comparative law.

Prior to arriving at St. John’s College, Demleitner served as the Roy L. Steinheimer Jr. Professor of Law at Washington and Lee University School of Law and dean of the law schools at Washington and Lee and Hofstra University.

An expert on criminal justice issues, including sentencing guidelines, she is an editor of the Federal Sentencing Reporter and served on the editorial board of the American Journal of Comparative Law. Demleitner has published extensively, and her articles have appeared in the Stanford Law Review, The Conversation, and The Washington Post. She is the lead author of Sentencing Law and Policy, a major casebook in the field.

Throughout her career, Demleitner has exhibited the ability to increase educational access, grow institutional support, and uphold rigorous educational standards. Drawn to the St. John’s pedagogy, curriculum, and culture, Demleitner holds that the college’s practice of reasoned inquiry and dialogue are a pathway to mutual understanding and agreement on shared values. At her inauguration this spring, Demleitner will showcase the themes of her tenure, including student belonging and success, educational distinctiveness, and educating future leaders.