Succeeding in the Candidate Pool: Resources Available at Association of American Law Schools for Persons Interested in Becoming a Law School Dean

• Publication year: 2008
• Citation: Vol. 31 No. 04

UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND LAW REVIEWVolume 31, No. 4SUMMER 2008

Succeeding in the Candidate Pool: Resources Available at Association of American Law Schools for Persons Interested in Becoming a Law School Dean

David A. Brennen(fn*)

I. Introduction

I would like to thank Seattle University School of Law and Dean Kellye Testy for hosting this conference aimed at increasing diversity in the decanal ranks. I would also like to thank the Society of American Law Teachers and its co-presidents, Tayyab Mahmud(fn1) and Eileen Kaufman,(fn2) for partnering with Seattle University to organize and promote this wonderful event.

This presentation covers three areas that fall under my supervision as Deputy Director of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). First, I will discuss the two Deans Databanks that I administer, which relate directly to increasing diversity among the ranks of law school deans in America: the Women Deans Databank and the Minority Deans Databank. In particular, I will address how these two databanks reflect the core values of the AALS and how the databanks function in the deanship process. Second, I will discuss the Law Deanship Manual,(fn3) an AALS publication that addresses nearly every aspect of what it takes to become a dean. Finally, I will discuss the many valuable opportunities available to professors and others in the legal community; these opportunities provide a chance to gain valuable experience relevant to being a dean through service to the AALS.

II. Deans Databanks

A. Relationship of Deans Databanks to Core Values

The AALS is a wonderful resource of information for people who are interested in becoming law school deans. This is especially true for women and minorities. Before addressing the two Deans Databanks, it is important to explain what motivated the AALS to get involved with making deanship information available and, in this particular case, focusing that information on minorities and women.

The AALS, as a nonprofit organization, is driven by its core values. These core values are the Association's guiding principles in a significant portion of its activities. The core values come into play whenever the Association considers an application from a law school that wants to become a member of the AALS or performs a site evaluation of a school that is renewing its membership. In these situations, the Association must routinely reference the schools' compliance with the Association's core values.

The Association has five core values, but the two core values most relevant to maintenance and administration of the two Deans Databanks are: (1) scholarship, academic freedom, and diversity of viewpoints; and (2) a diverse faculty and staff that are hired, promoted, and retained based on meeting and supporting high standards of teaching and scholarship and in accordance with principles of nondiscrimination.(fn4) Thus, in the spirit of advancing "diversity of viewpoints" and promoting the hiring of "a diverse faculty and staff," the AALS maintains the Women Deans Databank and the Minority Deans Databank.

B. The Birth of the Deans Databanks

The Women Deans Databank was first established at Georgetown University Law Center in 1997. Two major objectives of the databank at that time were: (1) to facilitate recognition of qualified female candidates for decanal positions; and (2) to encourage dean search committees to consider these nominated candidates in their quest for a new law school dean. By the 1999-2000 academic year, it was evident that the databank project...