NORTHWEST ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GIZELLE — Alena Allen has been named interim dean for the University of Arkansas School of Law, replacing Margaret Sova McCabe, who, after stepping down last year, has become a senior adviser for strategic projects. The university announced Thursday that a search for the next UA law school dean will begin later this year, with Allen’s appointment effective starting last Saturday. Allen, 43, joined UA in June after working as a faculty member at the University of Memphis Humphreys School of Law. At the Memphis law school, honors for Allen included awards for service and scholarship. The law school’s class of 2013 also named Allen as Professor of the Year. Last April, Allen’s plans to resign garnered headlines. She stated in a letter reported on by the Memphis Flyer and other news outlets that she was leaving because the university bypassed Black candidates for leadership roles despite faculty members favoring those candidates. Allen’s letter to the university stated that she had been promoted, but she cited her experiences as a Black faculty member in the resignation letter, as reported by the Memphis Flyer. Her letter stated, in part: “If Black Lives Matter, then Black candidates should matter. If Black Lives Matter, then the feelings of Black faculty should matter.”