Sara Sidebottom, Northern Kentucky University’s vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, will step down from the position on July 31, 2016. NKU President Geoffrey Mearns made the announcement at the January 13th NKU Board of Regents meeting.
A Kenton County native, Sidebottom graduated from Villa Madonna Academy, the University of Kentucky and Salmon P. Chase College of Law. She began her career as a public school teacher and continued to teach part-time at the University of Cincinnati until 1999. She maintained a general civil and criminal law practice for 16 years, including 10 years as a public defender and six years as a prosector. She served as district judge in Kenton County just prior to her tenure at NKU.
“Sara has served our university in this capacity for 16 years, and then has been on staff here at NKU a little longer than that,” said Mearns. “I think, as you all know, she has provided sound legal advice and wise counsel to many of us, and, on a personal note, I am grateful to the support she has provided to me.”
Sidebottom is the co-founder of the Northern Kentucky Women’s Lawyer Association, a member of the the Kentucky Commission on Women from 1995-2004, and served as vice chair of the Steering Committee for the “Governor’s Summit on the Economic Status of Kentucky’s Women.” She is a member of College and University Attorneys, Kentucky Bar Association, Northern Kentucky Bar Association, Cincinnati Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, 6th Circuit.
Mearns said he has formed a search committee to assist in hiring Sidebottom’s successor.