Dean Mattson joined Cardozo in 2018 as Assistant Director for Instructional Services, moving to New York from Columbus, Ohio, where she was a reference librarian at Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University. She has been teaching law for 15 years, starting as an adjunct professor teaching Media Law and Ethics in Seattle and legal writing and research at Ohio State and Cardozo and legal writing as a visiting professor at China University of Political Science and Law. 

She is active in several professional organizations. Most recently she was appointed to the George A. Strait Scholarship & Fellows Committee, an American Association of Law Libraries committee focused on increasing opportunities for minority groups in the law librarianship profession, and the Law Librarians of New England's Task Force on Vendor-Related Ethical Dilemmas.