The UH Law Center is making progress in its search for a dean and will select a finalist by mid-April, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Dean John Antel said.
The search started in October 2007, Antel said.
The new dean will have to be versatile and carry out several duties to qualify for the position, he said.
"The law school dean has to wear three hats: be a good scholar, good administrator and be a great ambassador in the community, especially with fundraising," Antel said. "They have to be able to assign courses, develop curriculum, hire faculty and raise money from local law firms, as well as generate internships at these firms."
With this standard in mind, Antel and the rest of the search committee embarked on a search both in Houston and in other cities.
The search committee is composed of Antel, Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Foss, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs David Bell, five law school faculty, two law alumni, the provost’s representatives and non-UH faculty including U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore, Antel said.
"The traits we are looking for in a law dean are someone who is an experienced academic administrator, is an individual with a record of scholarship, has fundraising ability, has knowledge of issues in legal education and has the ability to attract and retain high-quality faculty," Bell said.
"The law dean needs to have a vision for the future of the law school, and they need to be supported by the relevant constituency: students, faculty and the rest of the community,"he said. Professor David Dow, a law faculty member on the search committee, said the new dean will have to look ahead.
The committee met eight to 10 times and interviewed candidates at six meetings, including a trip to the American Association of Law Schools in New York City in January to interview candidates there, Antel said.
Fifty applicants for the position have been reduced to four semi-finalists, Antel said.
"We think we have a diverse slate of four strong candidates," he said.
The four candidates are current interim Dean Raymond Nimmer; Neil Cogan, dean of Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif.; Linda Greene, professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School and Craig Nard, a chaired professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
At a meeting Friday, faculty members discussed potential contenders and nominated a candidate, Antel said.
The faculty’s input will be considered by the search committee during its next meeting this week, when it will then select three of the four candidates and present the finalists to Foss, who has already met the four semi-finalists, Antel said.
"The provost will take the finalists to the UH campus, call their references, and discuss the salary (and) then make the final decision," Antel said. This process takes a few weeks, so April 1 is the earliest that the finalist will be announced, and the middle of April is the latest,"
The UH Law Center, which has improved its rankings in the past few years, knows it will find the right person for the position soon, Antel said.
"I am optimistic that we will find a new dean," he said.