GOVERNANCE
The Chief Justice of the United States chairs the Center’s Board, which also includes two circuit judges, three district judges, one bankruptcy judge, and one magistrate judge who are elected to four-year terms by the Judicial Conference of the United States, and the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, who serves ex officio. The Board oversees the Center’s activities, and its members serve on standing committees on education and research and on advisory committees on judicial education programs.

In March 2003, the Judicial Conference elected Judge James A. Parker of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico and Judge Sarah S. Vance of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to the Board, replacing Judge Jean C. Hamilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri and Judge William H. Yohn, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, whose terms expired.

The Board appoints the Center’s director and deputy director; the director appoints the Center’s staff. All but one of the Center’s nine directors have been federal judges, including Judge Barbara J. Rothstein of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, who became director in September 2003. She replaced Judge Fern M. Smith of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, who resumed her duties as a sitting judge after four years as the Center’s director.

ORGANIZATION
The organization of the Center reflects its primary statutory mandates. The Judicial Education and Court Education Divisions plan and produce education and training programs for judges and court staff, including satellite broadcasts, video programs, educational publications, and Web resources. The Research Division examines and evaluates current and alternative federal court practices and policies. This research not only assists Judicial Conference committees in developing policy recommendations but also contributes substantially to the Center’s educational programs. The three divisions work closely with two units of the Director’s Office—the Systems Innovation & Development Office and Communications Policy & Design—in using print, broadcast, and on-line media to deliver education and training and to disseminate the results of Center research. The Federal Judicial History Office helps courts and others study and preserve federal judicial history. The Interjudicial Affairs Office provides information to judicial and legal officials from foreign countries and assesses how to inform federal judicial personnel of developments in international law and other court systems that may affect their work.

Board of the Federal Judicial Center
The Chief Justice of the United States, Chair
Judge Pierre N. Leval, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Judge Pauline Newman, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
Judge Robert J. Bryan, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
Judge James A. Parker, U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico
Judge Sarah S. Vance, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
Chief Judge Robert F. Hershner, Jr., U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Georgia
Magistrate Judge Robert B. Collings, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts
Leonidas Ralph Mecham, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Senior Staff of the Federal Judicial Center
Hon. Barbara J. Rothstein, Director
Russell R. Wheeler, Deputy Director
John S. Cooke, Director, Judicial Education Division
James B. Eaglin, Director, Research Division
Emily Z. Huebner, Director, Court Education Division
Sylvan A. Sobel, Director, Communications Policy & Design
Ted E. Coleman, Chief, Systems Innovation & Development
Mira Gur-Arie, Senior Attorney for Interjudicial Affairs
Bruce A. Ragsdale, Chief, Federal Judicial History Office