Director
Josephine Gittler received her law degree from Northwestern University School of Law. When Professor Gittler joined the University of Iowa College of Law in 1973, she became the first female member of the faculty. She is currently the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law.
Professor Gittler is also a Professor of Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa College of Public Health and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa College of Medicine (secondary appointments). She also holds an appointment in the University of Iowa College of Nursing where she is Director of Policy for the Hartford Center on Excellence in Geriatric Nursing.
The focus of Professor Gittler’s teaching, scholarship, and service is health law and policy, children, families and the law (child maltreatment, juvenile delinquency and the child welfare and juvenile justice systems), alternate dispute resolution (interest-based negotiation and mediation), and the legislative process and drafting. She is the author, co-author, or co-editor of over 60 publications. These publications deal primarily with issues regarding health care law and regulation, and the organization, financing and delivery of health and health related services. They also deal with juvenile delinquency, child maltreatment, and the organization, financing, and delivery of services for children and families.
In 1981, Professor Gittler, founded, with Dr. John C. MacQueen, the National Health Law and Policy Resource Center (formerly the National Maternal and Child Health Resource Center). The Resource Center is a nationally recognized “think tank” that conducts interdisciplinary research, provides education and training and furnishes technical assistance to public health agencies, and other agencies, institutions and organizations. The Resource Center has a program on maternal and child health, a program on aging and an institute on conflict management. The Center is supported with federal and private foundation grants, contracts and subcontracts, consulting fees and donations.
In her capacity as Co-Director and Director of the Resource Center, Professor Gitttler has administrated a number of federally funded projects primarily related to maternal and child health and children with special needs and their families. In connection with these projects, she has provided education and training to health care agencies, programs and facilities in over thirty states and the District of Columbia.
She has extensive training and experience in conflict management, particularly interest-based/problem-solving negotiation and mediation. She has served as a staff mediator for the Justice System of Atlanta and provided mediation services in cases referred by state courts in the metropolitan Atlanta area, and in special education disputes throughout the country.
Because of Professor Gittler’s experience with respect to the legislative process and statutory drafting and legislative advocacy, she has played a major role in the enactment of legislation at the federal and state levels. She has served as chief counsel of a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and she served as special counsel to a study committee of the Iowa General Assembly. She also has been a consultant to members of Congress and their staffs, as well as members of the Iowa General Assembly and their staff. In addition she has served as a member of a number of federal and state commissions, committees and task forces. Professor Gittler received two awards from the Association of Maternal and Child Health for her leadership in national advocacy efforts on behalf of maternal and child health.