Bartlett is the A. Kenneth Pye Professor of Law at the Duke University School of Law, where she served as Dean from 2000-2007, leading the law school through a period of major strategic expansion. During Bartlett's tenure as Dean, the Law School was recognized by the American Bar Association five times for excellence in student leadership, leadership education and public interest programming. In addition, she was honored by Equal Justice Works in 2006 with its Dean of the Year award for support of public interest programs for law students, and by Duke University in 1994 as Scholar/Teacher of the Year. She earned a B.A. degree from Wheaton College, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa; an M.A. degree from Harvard University; and a J.D. degree from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where she served as an editor of the Law Review.