With assistance from the executive search firm WittKieffer, a committee comprised of university and law school administrators, faculty, staff, and a student representative will soon collect feedback from the community about the qualities sought in ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law’s next top leader.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Provost Aswani Volety has announced the formation of a search committee to recruit ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law’s fourth dean.
Co-chaired by ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law Professor Andy Haile and Raghu Tadepalli, dean of ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Martha & Spencer Love School of Business, the group will work with Lucy Leske and Werner Boel of the executive search firm . WittKieffer assisted in the 2013 search for a law school leader that led to the selection of current Dean Luke Bierman.
The new search committee members are:
- John Barnhill ‘92, Associate Vice President for University Advancement
- Melissa Duncan ‘06 L’09, Assistant Dean for Career and Student Development, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Law
- Tammi Etheridge, Assistant Professor of Law
- Steve Friedland, Senior Scholar and Professor of Law
- Ashley (Vanessa) Garcia L’22, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Law Student
- Monica Glover, Events Coordinator, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Law
- Andy Haile (Co-Chair), Professor of Law
- Chris Leupold, Professor of Psychology, Isabella Cannon Leadership Professor, and Faculty Fellow for Law and Leadership
- David Levine, Professor of Law
- Sue Liemer, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law
- Tim Peeples, Senior Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professor of English
- Patricia Perkins, Assistant Professor of Law
- Katherine Reynolds, Director of Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic at ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ School of Law and Assistant Professor of Law
- Wendy Scott, Associate Dean for Academic Success and Professor of Law
- Raghu Tadepalli (Co-Chair), Dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business
The search for ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law’s fourth dean coincides with the law school’s 15th anniversary year and its pending reaccreditation from the American Bar Association. It also takes place against a backdrop of historic enrollment for the law school. A record 171 students matriculated in August with the Class of 2023, bringing total enrollment at that point to a record 430.
The law school has likewise celebrated significant achievement in its bar exam pass rates and its post-graduate career placement success. A two-year ultimate bar pass rate of nearly 90% for graduates in 2019 will be reported to the American Bar Association in the months ahead.
At the same time, with the adoption of a 2.5-year curriculum and strategic investments in scholarships, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law has reduced average student loan debt at graduation by nearly a third.
ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion. Students of color comprise nearly 30% of each incoming class, and in the last four years, ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law has hired 12 continuing faculty members, 11 of whom identify as female and half of whom identify members of underrepresented groups in the legal profession.
The committee will engage members of the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ Law community, including the Law School Advisory Board, to solicit feedback about qualities they seek in the next dean.