Dean, College of Law

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Dean, College of Law

Georgia State University seeks an innovative, visible, and engaged leader to serve as its next dean of the College of Law.

With more than 52,000 students from 150 countries and all U.S states and territories, Georgia State University is the largest university in the state and one of the largest in the nation. Georgia State offers more than 250 degree programs in 100 fields of study, taught by more than 1,500 faculty members who generate groundbreaking research and educate one of the most diverse student populations in the nation. For the past six years, Georgia State University has been identified as the second most innovative university in the country by the U.S. News and World Report.

Georgia State is a national model for student success. Over the past decade, the university has increased its graduation rate by 23 points, the most dramatic increase of any national university and eliminated achievement gaps. It achieves these results leveraging technology in a variety of areas, including academic support, financial support, and utilizing predictive analytics in advising. The university graduates 2,800 more students per year than just five years ago and has reduced the time to degree by nearly a semester, saving students $18 million per year. Because of these and other results, U.S. News and World Report ranks Georgia State as the #1 public university in the United States for its commitment to undergraduate teaching. To read more about Georgia State’s commitment to student success, please review: https://success.gsu.edu/

Throughout its history, the College of Law has been a leader in innovative legal education. The curriculum emphasizes an intensive, practice-based approach with creative opportunities for hands-on learning. The College is committed to providing broad access and tuition affordability for its 650 students in both full-time and flexible part-time programs. The student body is approximately 61% female and 46% minorities. U.S. News & World Report ranks the Health Law program No. 1 and the part-time program as No. 17 in the nation. Pre-Law grades the College as an ‘A-‘ and GSU law school graduates have among the lowest debt. The faculty’s impressive scholarship and productivity led to an invitation to form an Order of the Coif Chapter in 2016, making it one of just eleven schools to receive a Coif invitation since 2000.

The College is active in providing practical skills-based learning designed to meet the needs of twenty-first century practice. The College boasts a clinical program that has been ranked No. 19 in U.S. News and World Report for the past two years and that consists of four in-house law clinics (an Immigration Clinic, HeLP Clinic, a medical legal partnership, Community Development and Entrepreneurship Clinic, and Philip C. Cook Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic), as well as three clinics with external partners (our Capital Defender Clinic, Landlord/Tenant Mediation Clinic, and Olmstead Disability Rights Clinic). 

The dean is the chief academic and administrative officer of the College, responsible to the provost for oversight and quality of all the college’s academic and research programs. The dean is responsible for all aspects of administering the College, including strategic planning, hiring, curriculum development, programming, advisement, international initiatives, community and industry partnerships, fundraising, facilities, and budget planning. The dean manages college resources, including personnel and financial, to achieve notable institutional and student success goals.

The College of Law has 71 full-time faculty members who deliver a rigorous program of study that prepares students to enter the worlds of law, business, and government at the highest level. Most of the faculty have legal practice experience prior to their career in academia. Over half of the faculty members are women. Because core faculty teach both evening and day classes, part-time law students receive the same outstanding education as full-time students.

The next dean will build upon the existing platform of the College of Law – including its highly-ranked programs, research-productive faculty, urban location in a state-of-the-art building, and a diverse and engaged community – to strategically position itself for the future. The College of Law’s commitment to an accessible and affordable legal education permeates everything it does, and the next dean will lean into these core strengths and opportunities to meet the needs of a dynamic landscape.

The dean will possess administrative leadership skills, experience in implementing a strategic vision, the ability to engage with a wide variety of stakeholder groups, a record of resource and relationship building, and distinguished scholarly and legal accomplishments, consistent with the rank of a full professor at an R1 university. 

Initial screening of applicants will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Georgia State University will be assisted by Ellen Brown Landers, Jackie Zavitz, and Meghan Ashbrock of Heidrick & Struggles, Inc.

Nominations and applications should be directed to: GSULawDean@heidrick.com

Georgia State University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against applicants due to race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status, or on the basis of disability or any other federal, state, or local protected class.