Judge Sharon P. McCully was appointed to the Third District Juvenile Court in 1983 by Governor Scott M. Matheson. She served for over 27 years. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was an Assistant Attorney General, State of Utah. Judge McCully has served in many national, state and local leadership positions. In 2004, she was installed as President of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, after 12 years as a Trustee and Officer. Involvement with the NCJFCJ included many years on the Permanency Planning for Children Committee, several as Chair. She also participated in and lead the drafting and implementation of policy and practice guidelines such as the Resource Guidelines to Improve Court Practice in Child Abuse and Neglect Cases, Adoption and Permanency Guideline, and Juvenile Delinquency Guidelines, all of which created nationwide systems change in the juvenile justice and child welfare fields. She brought NCJFCJ initiatives to Utah, serving for over 15 years as the lead judge of the Utah Model Dependency Court and directing the pilot Model Delinquency Court. She continues to participate in policy, legislative, and educational endeavors NCJFCJ. In Utah, Judge McCully served on the Utah Judicial Council, the Board of Juvenile Court Judges, as Presiding Judge in the Third District Juvenile Court, as a member of the Court Improvement Project and the Initiative on Utah's Children in Foster Care, led by Chief Justice Christine Durham. She has been the recipient of the Utah State Bar Association's Judge of the Year Award twice, and has received numerous other awards and recognitions. Since retiring from the bench in September, 2010, Judge McCully has been an adjunct professor at the University of Utah, teaching public policy at the Graduate School of Social Work, and Juvenile Court Law at the S.J. Quinney School of Law.