Otherwise, you wouldn t be wasting his or her time or yours. I have built two new law school buildings one at Nova, a second at Rutgers-Newark and hope to build a third at Northeastern. The fundraising has provided additional resources for student scholarships, faculty development, and the library. One critical part of a dean s job is knowing when to leave. Everyone runs out of ideas after some period of time.
Every institution needs new leadership periodically.
You are not the law school, only its dean. Whether five, seven, or ten years is the right term is not as important as knowing that, as dean, you have a job to accomplish, some goals to achieve, and then you move on. For those who chose to become law school deans, the position can bring great satisfaction. Motivating faculty, staff, and administrators, administering a large organization, representing the law school to a variety of external constituencies, presiding at faculty meetings, orientation, and graduation the academic year is filled with opportunities for a dean to make a difference. I confess that I enjoy being a dean.