By Joshua Rich, UCLA School of Law | Ampersand
Stuart Biegel, a longtime member of the faculty at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies and UCLA School of Law died on April 3. He was 73.
A renowned expert in the fields of education law and technology law, Biegel focused his scholarship and teaching on the intersection of technology, privacy and disability rights in both K-12 and higher education.
He began his career teaching elementary and secondary classes in public and private schools in Los Angeles. In 1985, he joined the UCLA Graduate School of Education, where he directed the Teacher Education Program (TEP). In the 1990s, he helped create UCLA Center X to train teachers in equitable methods that could transform public schooling. He worked with undergraduate, master’s and doctoral students in GSEIS, and he began his tenure as a lecturer at UCLA Law in 1989.
As a pioneer in technology law and policy, Biegel was among the first scholars in the nation to identify the Internet’s potential in the law and education. His popular courses in the law school and the information studies department often centered on the impact of technology, including online regulation, future technologies and privacy. He was a longtime member of UCLA’s Advisory Board on Privacy and Data Protection and in the 1990s taught UCLA’s first course in the law of cyberspace.
A beloved teacher for generations of students, he won the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award in 2012. In the fall of 2018, he was honored by alumni of the UCLA Educational Leadership Program for his contributions throughout its 25 years in GSEIS.