Faculty Spotlight: Vice Dean Susan Bisom-Rapp

A lifelong learner, enthusiastic teacher, and believer in the power of individuals to make positive change in their communities, Vice Dean and Professor Susan Bisom-Rapp is a singular force at California Western.

Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp is a prolific scholar. Much of her published work has focused on workplace discrimination and sexual harassment. As her scholarship expanded over the years, Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp began writing in the area of international and comparative workplace law. Among her many publications is The Global Workplace: International and Comparative Employment Law, a co-authored casebook designed to help American law students comprehend global workplace law by explaining the importance of international labor standards and examining workplace law from nine countries across the globe.

As fierce as her love for research is, Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp’s passion for teaching equals it. She says, “except for my family, there’s nothing I’m more excited about than raising up the next generation of lawyers.” Ultimately, Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp believes that teaching is about building community, and she tries to teach this to her students as well— that what is most significant in changing society for the better is local action. Her courses include labor and employment electives, such as Employment Discrimination, as well as Torts I and Torts II.

During the 2022-2023 academic year, she has filled the role of Vice Dean for Academic Affairs. She acknowledges that this is not a position she had ever thought she would find herself in and that the new challenges it poses have been humbling. But it is her sincere belief that “when you are called to serve, you should rise to the challenge.”

In Fall 2023, she returns to the full-time faculty, and is excited to host visiting scholar Professor Iacopo Senatori, from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp has been affiliated with the University for nearly 15 years, and presently serves on the University’s Academic Council for the PhD in Labor, Development, and Innovation. In 2007, Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp attended her first International Conference in Commemoration of Professor Marco Biagi, hosted annually by the University’s Marco Biagi Foundation. She has attended the conference almost every year since, including the 20th edition in March of 2023.

“It was a joy to share with and learn from colleagues from Italy, France, Denmark, and Poland on a panel titled Linking Environmental Protection and Employment: The Role of Law. The issues raised by the panel are crucial to consider if we are to bring into harmony environmental sustainability and decent work.”

Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp also had a long affiliation with British scholar, the late Professor Malcolm Sargeant. Together, they published eight works, including their book Lifetime Disadvantage, Discrimination and the Gendered Workforce, published by Cambridge University Press in 2016. Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp has just completed a postscript to that monograph, with a forthcoming, solely-authored book chapter, which will be published in 2023. This chapter examines the position of older women workers in the UK and US during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also served as her topic in delivering the 2023 Malcolm Sargeant Memorial Lecture on March 14th at Middlesex University – London (UK).

“I was truly honored to deliver the Sargeant Lecture. Beyond the joy of talking about the work Malcolm and I accomplished together, it was emotionally gratifying to think through ways that work continues to be useful in analyzing the impact on older women of the COVID crisis. I felt very close to Malcolm while delivering the lecture.”

We are grateful for Vice Dean Bisom-Rapp’s ongoing, edifying research on the workplace and her bright, dedicated presence in ours.