10:34 a.m., March 24, 2010----Judge Leonard P. Stark, a 1991 graduate of the University of Delaware, has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the district of Delaware by President Barack Obama.

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Stark was one of two nominees announced March 17, with Obama also nominating Amy Totenberg to the bench for the northern district of Georgia.

“Leonard Stark and Amy Totenberg are distinguished candidates for the United States District Court,” Obama said. “They have both displayed an exceptional commitment to public service and they will be thoughtful and esteemed additions to the federal bench. I am honored to nominate them today.”

Stark currently serves as a U.S. magistrate judge for the district of Delaware, a position he has held since 2007.

Previously, he was an assistant U.S. attorney for the district of Delaware and an associate in the Delaware office of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

He began his legal career in Wilmington as a law clerk to the Judge Walter K. Stapleton of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

A Rhodes Scholar and Honors Program student, Stark graduated from the University of Delaware in 1991 with three degrees -- an honors bachelor's degree in political science, a bachelor of science with distinction in economics, a minor in women's studies and a master's degree in European medieval and early modern history.

While at UD, his honors included the Alexander J. Taylor Award as the outstanding senior man, induction into Phi Beta Kappa and being named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team.

During his senior year, Stark became the seventh UD alumnus to win a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which took him to Oxford University in England for two years, where he received his doctorate.

He returned to the United States and completed his law degree at Yale Law School, where he served as editor and then senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.

Stark has been active with the University of Delaware Alumni Association and in 2004 he was named a recipient of the UD Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement, an award that honors UD graduates of the last 20 years who exhibit great promise in their professional career and/or public service activities.

He delivered the Winter Commencement address in January 2007.

Last fall, during Homecoming Weekend, he received the 2009 Outstanding Alumni Award, which recognizes exemplary dedication and volunteer work to UD.

Stark is the author of the book, Choosing a Leader: Party Leadership Contests in Britain from Macmillan to Blair, as well as several articles in law and academic journals.

Stark is married to Beth Brofee, who also graduated from UD in 1991. His parents, Linda and the late Walter Stark, established the Lewis Lewin Stark Scholarship Fund for incoming Honors students.

If his nomination is confirmed, Stark would join fellow UD graduate Sue Lewis Robinson (AS '74), who is a judge in that court.