Diane Geraghty joined the Maryviile Board of Directors in 2005. She and Maryville's Executive Director, Sr. Catherine M. Ryan, O.S.F., met the first day of their first year in law school at Northwestern University. Since that introduction, their paths have crossed innumerable times.
Ms. Geraghty has been a Professor of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law since 1978; served as Interim Law School Dean from April 2004 through July 2005; has been a Director of the Civitas ChildLaw Center since 1993; she is co-founder of the Loyola University Chicago Center on the Human Rights of Children. As Director of Civitas ChildLaw Center, Ms. Geraghty is responsible for all aspects of training law students, attorneys and child welfare professionals to be effective and ethical advocates for children; to provide high quality legal representation to child clients; to promote children's law as an area of legal specialization; and to improve the quality of justice and educational opportunities for children and their families.
In addition to her teaching, she is the principal investigator on a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to manage its Models for Change Initiative for Juvenile Justice Reform in Illinois. She has served on numerous panels and committees including the Chicago Bar Association Blue Ribbon Panel; Cook County Juvenile Detention Center; ABA President-Elect's Advisory Task Force on Children and the Law; and Illinois State Bar Associations' Children's Law Committee.