The topic is of crucial importance to law profs. The facilitators were chosen to represent diverse teaching constituencies in brief opening statements and over half the program will be an open discussion among all the participants (facilitators and audience).
THE CHANGED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF LAW SCHOOLS AND ITS IMPACT ON FACULTY
AALS Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
Saturday, January 6, 2007
from 9:00 a.m. to 10:45 p.m.
FACILITATORS:
Professor Marina Angel, Temple University
Professor Robin Barnes, University of Connecticut
Professor Kristin Gerdy, Brigham Young University, Legal Writing
Dean Suellyn Scarnecchia, University of New Mexico, previously Clinical
Law schools have changed drastically in the last 30 years. In the past, law school administrations usually consisted of a dean and an associate dean who were tenured professors, and one or more assistant deans who were tenure track or staff. Faculties consisted primarily of a limited number of tenured and tenure track professors teaching a relatively small number of traditional courses and a few adjuncts teaching advanced substantive specialty courses.
Today, administrations have exploded with multiple associate and assistant deans, most without professorial titles and non-tenure track, and multiple directors of clinics, legal writing, and institutes–most also non-tenure track. Full time faculty now consist of a limited number of tenured and tenure track professors with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary and research expertise, growing numbers of full time specialized clinical, legal writing, and other skills teachers, expanding numbers of lower level administrators with some teaching responsibilities, and exploding numbers of adjuncts teaching both substantive and skills courses.
Status, money, and job security go to tenured and tenure track teachers. There are strong indications that this category is reverting back to being a white, male preserve. Women of all colors are being steered to lower paying, lower status, less secure contract and at will positions. The number of African-American men in tenured and tenure track positions is dropping, and the entry of women of all colors and minority males to top jobs seems to be limited.
The session will address in a discussion format, these changes and their impact on the composition and role of the professoriate.
–Marina Angel
