IT IS NOT ABOUT THE DEAN
IT IS NOT ABOUT THE DEAN
BRIAN PAPPAS Dean , University of North Dakota School of Law
Recently , I announced I will be leaving the University of North Dakota ( UND ) to take a new position as the chancellor of Indiana University South Bend . My family loves North Dakota , and this was the toughest professional decision I have ever made . I was recently asked what I want my legacy to be at UND Law . I have never liked that question . The only legacy I care about is how I am remembered by my children and future grandchildren , and it will not be based on my work .
My philosophy as an academic administrator is grounded in one simple principle : it is not about the dean .
Our focus is on our students and on the communities we are educating our students to serve . Our mission is achieved by the faculty and staff who work tirelessly every day to support our students . It is not about the dean ; it is about us working collectively towards our goals and on the things we can achieve together .
In a dean-centered environment , all decisions flow upwards to the dean , and everyone watches the dean for what will happen next . It tends to disempower . In a shared governance environment , the faculty , staff , and the students have input in the direction of the law school . I am fond of quoting the African proverb “ if you want to go quickly , go alone , but if you want to go far , go together .”
As strange as it may sound , from the day I arrived , I have been planning my departure . I have worked very hard building programs in the past , only to discover when I left , they were abandoned . I am determined never to let that happen again . If our progress does not outlast the dean , it was not meaningful progress . At UND , our collective successes have been based on a series of deans , including Kathryn Rand , Brad Myers , and Mike McGinniss . In administration , we need things to work , and if they work well , no one should notice .
Together , we have done important work . We have maintained a more than 90- percent ultimate bar passage rate , and we increased the percentage of North Dakota first-year students from 40 to 48 percent . We reinvigorated our career services office , increasing scholarships and support from the Larson Foundation , which grants scholarships to North Dakota residents and stipends to students working in rural parts of the state . Our admissions office is doing excellent work , and applications to the law school have risen 29 percent . We now have a full-time student advisor and a full-time director of bar support and academic success .
We maintained a balanced budget and now have a three-year budgeting model to more easily identify trends and future challenges . This year , we are on track to achieve our highest ever fundraising total thanks to a $ 1.75 million gift , the highest single bequest in law school history . In addition to our strong family law clinic , we have four additional areas , adding housing discrimination , prison innocence , and business and non-profit law .
We were ranked by the U . S . News & World Report for the first time since 2018 and we have the 32nd best legal writing program in the country . We were recently featured in the National Jurist ’ s Pre-Law Magazine as a “ Best Value Law School ” - remaining a Top 15 Law School ( out of 200 ) for lowest tuition .
Over the next six months , we will do even more . We are developing a 3 + 3 program with the University of Alaska Fairbanks that will bring students to UND Law . We are working with UND ’ s School of Engineering and Mines to strengthen our Energy , Environment , and Natural Resources Certificate . We are exploring a partnership with the University of Manitoba to help our students be even more prepared for an increasingly international future .
My goal has always been to not make this job about me . We are all simply renting our positions , and I want to leave this position in better shape than I found it , as a better job for my successor . What are the challenges and obstacles I can overcome or remove to allow the next person to help us continue our positive momentum ?
While the next dean may certainly have a different vision , there will always be goals that are common to everyone : a belief in effective shared governance , a dedication to the state ’ s bench and bar , and a mission to educate more lawyers for North Dakota . Those goals will persist because it is not about the dean . I do have one personal goal I would like to achieve – playing in the lunchtime basketball game with many other Williston lawyers – in the Williston Noon Ball Association .
22 THE GAVEL