Renee Knake Jefferson

MSU Board of Trustees

Renee is a member of the MSU Board of Trustees, elected to a full eight-year term beginning in 2023, as well as a tenured professor and Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics at the University of Houston, where she teaches constitutional law, professional responsibility, and leadership. She also serves as assistant dean of Outcomes, Assessments, and Strategy.

Jefferson was a faculty member at Michigan State University from 2006 to 2016, earning tenure at the College of Law and teaching at the Broad College of Business and Honors College. She has held prestigious appointments, including Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Entrepreneurship at RMIT University and scholar-in-residence at Stanford Law School.

An award-winning author and internationally recognized expert on legal ethics, Jefferson has published extensively on law, leadership, and innovation. A University of Chicago Law School alumna, she resides in East Lansing with her family, who share strong ties to MSU.