DEAN
WIDENER LAW
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
OVERVIEW
Widener University invites nominations and applications for the position of Dean of its School of Law located near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Dean is the chief administrative officer of the School, reporting directly to the Provost. The Dean serves with the deans of seven other schools and the College of Arts and Sciences on the Deans’ Council, the Provost’s Council, and the President’s Senior Leadership Team, and is the official liaison between the School’s faculty and the Provost.
THE UNIVERSITY
Widener University, an independent, metropolitan, Carnegie-classified doctoral institution, connects curricula to social issues through civic engagement. Dynamic teaching, active scholarship, personal attention, and experiential learning are key components of the Widener Experience. The university’s robust diversity agenda embodies the values of access, inclusion, academic excellence, innovation, and leadership.
Widener’s main campus is situated in the Philadelphia/Wilmington metroplex in Chester,
Pennsylvania with additional campuses in Exton and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. In addition to programs of its School of Law with Centers in Wilmington and
Harrisburg, the university offers programs through: the College of Arts Sciences; the School of Business Administration; the School of Education, Innovation, and Continuing Studies; the School of Engineering; the School of Hospitality Management; the School of Human Service Professions; and, the School of Nursing.
Widener University is distinctive in having evolved from a preparatory school to a military institution and ultimately to a university. Widener’s vision is inspired by a legacy of leadership,
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 2 public service, and career preparation started by John Bullock, who established the Bullock School for Boys in Delaware in 1821 to prepare young men for “entry to college.”
Over the next 47 years, the institution became first a military academy and eventually moved to its present location in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1868. In 1892, the Academy applied for and received collegiate status, becoming the Pennsylvania Military College (PMC), modeled after the U.S. Army Military Academy at West Point.
In 1972, the PMC Corps of Cadets was disbanded, and PMC Colleges became Widener College, named after the prominent Widener family of Philadelphia. In 1979, to reflect its addition of graduate and professional programs, Widener College became Widener University.
Today, after nearly 200 years of change and evolution, the university’s core values stand as respectful legacy to its past in preparing young men and women to become citizens of character who can become effective leaders in a global society. In the past 10 years, Widener has emerged as one of the nation’s leading metropolitan universities. Strong leadership, shared vision, and an empowered university community have combined to position Widener as a university on the move, and one to watch nationally as well as regionally. This is why Widener recently received an invitation to join the prestigious New American Colleges and Universities, a national
consortium of 22 selective, independent colleges and universities dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal arts, professional studies, and civic responsibility.
New Strategic Plan. The university completed a 10-year strategic plan under the leadership of
the university’s ninth president, James T. Harris III, now in the 13th year of his presidency.
Currently, new unit-specific goals and objectives are being developed within the framework of the university plan, Vision 2021. Therefore, the new Dean of the School of Law will have the opportunity to lead the school in the development of its own new strategic plan to complement that of the university.
Vision. As a preeminent metropolitan university, Widener aspires to be a dynamic, inclusive
academic community, transforming students into scholars, leaders, and globally engaged citizens.
Mission. The Widener University mission is achieved by creating a learning environment where
curricula are connected to societal issues through civic engagement. The university:
Leads by providing a unique combination of liberal arts and professional education in a challenging, scholarly, and culturally diverse academic community;
Engages students through dynamic teaching, active scholarship, personal attention, and experiential learning;
Inspires students to be citizens of character who demonstrate professional and civic
leadership; and
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 3
For more information about the university, please visit: www.widener.edu.
THE SCHOOL OF LAW
The Widener University School of Law was founded in 1971, in Wilmington, as Delaware School of Law, becoming a part of Widener in 1976. The school’s Harrisburg campus was established in 1989. The Law School currently enrolls more than 750 students on its two campuses, with more than 14,000 alumni in 49 states, Washington, D.C., and 23 foreign countries. One hundred sixty alumni serve in the judiciary of some 15 states. Widener Law is the only law school in Delaware and the only law school with a campus in the Pennsylvania state capital.
At present, Widener Law consists of two campuses. The university’s Board of Trustees has approved a plan to have the Harrisburg campus of its law school become a separately administered and accredited school within the university structure. This reorganization will capitalize on the special strengths of each law school, giving each the opportunity to develop further distinctive programs to serve its students and unique communities. The American Bar Association is currently reviewing a request for acquiescence for formal separation of the two schools, a process that the university expects to be completed by June 2015.
Program Highlights
Widener Law Harrisburg has 247 students, 19 full-time faculty members, 30 adjunct professors, and three emeriti professors. It offers a full-time day division and a part-time evening division. Almost all of its students are candidates for the Juris Doctor degree. The American Bar
Association has recognized the campus for its teaching and for being student-centered. Students have incomparable access to a dedicated faculty who take pride in their students’ personal and professional development and success.
Areas of Focus
The school’s career-oriented programs include five certificate programs and numerous clinical and judicial externship opportunities.
Widener Law Harrisburg takes advantage of its proximity to the Pennsylvania state capital through its Law & Government Institute, which was established in 1999. The Institute
(@WidenerLG) is a signature feature of the law school. It is a dynamic resource for students, government officials, legislators, judges, attorneys, and the public that focuses on legislation, the intersection of law and policy, and administrative agencies. For students, the Institute provides knowledge and insights about how government works, the skills lawyers use when representing clients before the government, and the skills lawyers use when representing the government itself. The Institute enables students to work with faculty, practicing attorneys, and government policy makers on projects designed to develop and improve state laws.
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 4 The Environmental Law Center, which is associated with the Institute, is known nationally and internationally for its scholarship and advocacy on sustainable development and climate change. Experiential learning and public engagement are at the core of its activities, including white papers and articles coauthored with students, blogs, student preparation of a newsletter for the Pennsylvania environmental and energy bar, student externships, and conferences on cutting-edge issues.
The Law and Government Institute offers three certificate programs:
Administrative Law / Constitutional Law Certificate, which focuses on governmental
structure and the laws that govern administrative agencies;
Legislation Certificate, which focuses on the legislative process and legislative drafting;
Environmental Law Certificate, which provides students with a basic understanding of
the substance and practice of environmental law.
Widener Law Harrisburg offers two additional certificate programs:
Advocacy Certificate, which provides students with course work and hands-on learning
opportunities in litigation and dispute resolution;
Business Advising Certificate, which provides a foundational understanding of the many
areas of law that affect small and midsize business owners.
In general, these programs are designed to provide a mix of doctrinal and skills courses as well as practical experience, all enabling students to be more “practice ready” in the fields where they want to work.
Widener Law Harrisburg also demonstrates its commitment to the university’s mission of civic engagement through two clinics:
Civil Law Clinic, which introduces students to community legal issues and clients across
areas of law such as bankruptcy, consumer protection, and divorce;
Environmental Law Clinic, which enables students to gain experience in civil litigation
and representation focused on protection of the environment.
Widener is committed to practical legal skills training and requires more legal writing credits than 75% of law schools nationwide. The school provides students with the opportunity to specialize their legal writing education by offering courses in appellate advocacy, consumer protection, contract drafting, criminal law, domestic violence, judicial opinion writing,
legislative drafting, and more. Widener's core legal writing program is mostly taught by tenure-track and long-term faculty who are experts in legal skills training and regularly write and present on their innovative teaching methods. The upper-level courses are mostly taught by
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 5 adjuncts who bring their considerable field experience and practice-oriented perspectives to the classroom.
Widener Law Harrisburg’s Pennsylvania bar pass rate is typically above the state average for first-time bar takers. One reason is the legal writing program discussed above. Another reason is a demanding required course that revisits core doctrines in a student’s final year, a point at which students can appreciate the many connections among areas of law. Finally the school is committed to its strong academic success program, which has been highly effective working with students to develop analytical skills in first and second year courses.
Widener Law Harrisburg’s commitment to student success extends beyond their graduation from the law school, as evidenced by the Incubator Program for new lawyers. This program, which is conducted in collaboration with the Dauphin County Bar Association, provides space, training, and mentoring for recent graduates of Widener Law Harrisburg who have demonstrated an interest in pursuing careers in either small firms or as solo practitioners of law. As part of their participation in this program, the recent graduates provide needed legal representation in civil matters to low income residents of the Harrisburg region.
In addition to the Juris Doctor degree program, Widener Law Harrisburg offers a dual degree in conjunction with Clarion University of Pennsylvania in law and library science (J.D., Master of Library Science), as well as dual degrees in conjunction with Widener’s School of Business Administration (J.D./M.B.A.), and Widener’s School of Human Service Professions
(J.D./Psy.D.). In connection with the Delaware Campus, it has offered summer international programs in Europe, Africa, and Australia, and is authorized to offer graduate law courses. For additional program information, see: http://law.widener.edu/Academics.aspx
Students
Widener Law Harrisburg has 247 students enrolled in academic year 2014-15. The school has 111 female students and 136 male students, with 43 students self-identified as a member of a minority group. Ninety-six students entered in August, exceeding enrollment projections. Typically, two-thirds of the students come from Pennsylvania, some through the Law School’s partnerships with the 14 universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. There are four Honor Societies: the Widener Law Journal; the Widener Journal of Law,
Economics and Race (an e-Journal produced in collaboration with the Wilmington campus); the
Trial Advocacy Society; and the Moot Court Honor Society.
Widener Harrisburg has many active student organizations, including the Black Law Students Association (BLSA), the Latino/a American Law Students Association (LALSA), the
Environmental Law and Policy Society, the Women’s Law Caucus, the Christian Legal Society, the Veterans Law Student Organization, the American Constitution Society, the Federalist Society, the Immigration Law Society, the International Law Society, Outlaw (the LGBTQ student organization), Phi Alpha Delta, the Public Interest Law Society, the St. Thomas More Society, and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 6 Together with the Student Bar Association, these organizations hold a variety of events each year including the Relay for Life, which raises more than $12,000 annually for cancer research; an annual event commemorating Martin Luther King Day; a Red Cross blood drive; a “Dress for Success” women’s professional clothing drive; Wills for Heroes, in which students paired with licensed attorneys draft wills free of charge for first responders; and a wide variety of athletic teams and activities, both in-house and in local Bar-affiliated leagues. Other activities include “Pizza and Policy in the Pit,” held several times a year, at which Faculty and visitors discuss timely legal topics over lunch.
Widener Law Harrisburg has more than 3,300 alumni working in all sectors of the legal
community throughout the country. The majority live in the Mid-Atlantic Region, but the school is beginning to develop a noticeable alumni presence in the South, Midwest, and West. Nearly 200 alumni work in state government. They include members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, cabinet officers, and Chief Counsels to Commonwealth agencies. Notable Widener Law Harrisburg alumni include Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Federal Maritime Commissioner William Doyle, Commonwealth Court Judge P. Kevin Brobson, General Counsel of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania James D. Schultz, United States Magistrate Judge Susan Schwab, and former U.S. Representative Patrick Murphy. For additional information about student programs, see:
http://law.widener.edu/Gateway/CurrentStudents/HarrisburgStudents.aspx Faculty
Students work with a faculty devoted to teaching law from all perspectives. The faculty takes pride in the personal and professional development and success of the students.
The faculty has a strong commitment to engaged teaching, influential scholarship, and
distinguished service. Through an intensive first-year experience, innovative teaching, a unique practice-focused legal writing program, and specialized certificate programs, the faculty works to ensure that students are prepared for entry into the legal profession upon graduation. The faculty includes nationally recognized experts in climate change, criminal law, ethics, immigration, intellectual property, legal education, legal methods, municipal bankruptcy, sustainability and environmental law, tort reform, and voting rights. Through leadership roles in the ABA and AALS and active participation in ALI (four members of the faculty are elected members) and other professional organizations, Harrisburg faculty members strive to improve legal education and the legal profession as a whole.
The full-time and adjunct faculty includes current judges of the Pennsylvania Supreme, Commonwealth, and Common Pleas Courts; an elected district attorney; current and former federal prosecutors, including a former United States Attorney; senior government lawyers; and practitioners from a wide variety of practice areas. One of the Commonwealth Court judges serves as a Jurist-in-Residence, working with students and faculty on issues of importance to the practice of law and the judicial system. That program is an integral part of the Law and
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 7 For more information about the accomplishments of the faculty and a faculty roster see:
http://law.widener.edu/Academics/Faculty/FacultybyCampus/Harrisburg.aspx The Community
Widener Law Harrisburg is located on a 14-acre campus near Harrisburg in Susquehanna Township. While on a beautiful suburban campus, Widener Law Harrisburg’s proximity to Pennsylvania’s legislature, agencies, and courts, as well as the federal courts for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, provides students with many opportunities for focused and rewarding clinical experiences, externships, and employment. The practicing bar is collegial, active, and supportive of the law school and the students.
Harrisburg is the hub of a roughly hundred-mile-wide circular region that encompasses several cities, such as Reading, York, and Gettysburg, rural countryside, and the rich Susquehanna River Basin. Housing is among the most affordable in the nation. The law school is a ten-minute drive from downtown apartments, farms, upscale developments, and every housing style in-between. The entertainment offerings of Hershey and Lancaster are only a little farther. The region also offers many other cultural and entertainment opportunities, including the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, several performing arts centers, a vibrant and growing visual arts community, and professional theater. There are innumerable opportunities for outdoor recreation, including hiking on the Appalachian Trail, which passes near the campus.
For more information about the Harrisburg metropolitan area see: http://www.visithhc.com/
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR THE DEAN
With the anticipated reorganization of Widener’s School of Law into two separate schools, the new dean will have many opportunities and challenges. The new dean will have many of the leadership opportunities associated with being a “founding” dean but with few of the downsides because the school has a solid foundation constructed over the past 25 years.Opportunities
Shaping a strategic plan for Widener Law Harrisburg within the framework of the new strategic plan for Widener University;
Helping the rest of the legal world learn of the school’s commitment to student success at school, on the bar exam, and in law practice;
Developing programs and enhancing facilities as Widener Law Harrisburg establishes its unique identity;
Strengthening connections with Harrisburg campus alumni to cultivate fundraising and development;
Expanding connections with the legal, governmental, and civic entities in the region to promote the accomplishments of the Law School’s graduates and faculty;
Establishing a greater civic leadership presence in Pennsylvania; and
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 8 Challenges
Every challenge is also an opportunity for the enthusiastic leader wanting to show that he or she can make a positive difference.
The new dean will face challenges associated with the national downturn in law school
applications and enrollment, the high cost of legal education, and the associated indebtedness of many graduates.
Another set of challenges and opportunities will be those associated with the separation of the law school from the Wilmington campus, including budgetary and staffing changes, recruiting in a constantly changing market, and implementing a different yet complementary “brand” in association with what will be a separate, sister law school in Wilmington.
A geographic challenge for the new dean will be the approximately 100-mile distance to the university’s main campus in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Qualifications
To be considered for this position, a candidate must have a law degree.
Preferred candidates will have substantial administrative experience, such as budget and personnel management. Candidates with substantial academic experience are welcome, as are candidates from government, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. Candidates are expected to have credentials equivalent to those expected for a tenured appointment in the School of Law, ideally at the rank of full professor, if such appointment is sought.
The new dean must be willing and able to build on the school’s existing strengths, which include excellence in teaching and producing practice-ready lawyers, its location near the Pennsylvania state capital and programs related to the Law & Government Institute, productive and useful scholarship, and a high level of civic engagement. The new dean must also be willing and able to play a leadership role in taking the school to the next level, making Widener Law Harrisburg a superb regional law school – a school of first choice for students living or working within several hundred miles.
Attributes Desired in the Dean
The new dean will have such personal characteristics as honesty, integrity, exemplary moral and ethical character, and the energy and stamina for the rigors of the office. Widener also expects the individual chosen as the Dean of Widener Law Harrisburg will have shown himself or herself to be a leader who will:
Provide visionary strategic thinking and planning;
Make student success a first priority;
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 9
Value faculty scholarship and seek new and creative ways to continue to attract, support
and retain high-quality faculty;
Build consensus and communicate decisions clearly and with care;
Champion the importance of diversity; and
Be entrepreneurial.
Candidates will have demonstrated positive leadership experience in many of the areas below:
Fundraising
Accreditation Assessment
Civic Engagement
Strategic Planning
Faculty Recruiting and Development
Faculty/Staff Relations
Delegation
Bar Passage
Leadership in the Legal Profession
Innovation
Diversity Enhancement
Accreditation
The Widener University School of Law is fully accredited by the ABA and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). The ABA can be reached at 321 N. Clark Street, 21st floor, Chicago, IL 60610, or (312) 988-6738. The AALS can be reached at 1614 20th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009-1001, or (202) 296-8851.
NOMINATIONS AND THE APPLICATION PROCESS
Review of nominations and applications will begin immediately and expressions of interest will be welcome until an appointment is made. The appointee is expected to take office on or before July 1, 2015. Applications received by November 1, 2014 will be assured full consideration. Complete applications will include a detailed letter of interest addressing the qualities sought; a
curriculum vitae and the names of five professional references with e-mail addresses and
telephone numbers. Calls to references will occur later in the search process and then only with prior notification and consent of candidates. All submissions will be treated in
confidence and should be sent electronically (PDF or MS Word format preferred) to: WidenerLawDeanHarrisburg@academic-search.com.
Initial screening will take place in November, followed by initial interviews in December and January; a small group of finalists will be selected for on-campus interviews in February, at which time the identity of finalists will be made public.
Profile, Widener Law Harrisburg Page 10 The search committee is assisted by: Charles E. Kupchella, PhD, Senior Consultant, Academic Search, Inc.; cek@academic-search.com or (814) 322-6282. Dr. Kupchella is available for confidential discussion about this opportunity.
Widener University is an equal opportunity employer that encourages excellence through diversity. Women and minority candidates are encouraged to apply.
