The University, after trudging through a controversial and unsuccessful dean search this year, has decided to postpone restarting the search until next spring. In the meantime, interim law school Dean Margie Paris has been promoted to full dean status until 2008.
Lorraine Davis, vice president for academic affairs, consulted a small committee within the law school and collected opinions from the law school community before making a decision.
“She’s shown the ability to be a leader to move the school forward,” Davis said. “She is a great consensus builder and a consultator. … It was something that was A: recommended, and B: seemed appropriate.”
Paris’ appointment comes on the heels of a failed search that raised racial questions after two candidates took other offers and the final candidate, a Latino man, declined the post following what many in the law school community said was unequal treatment.
Paris said it was difficult to deal with the controversial situation, but she was motivated to do her best because students rely on the school to function well.
“We’re in this building all day together. That kind of closeness and sense of responsibility has really been uppermost in my mind,” she said. “You wouldn’t choose your starting-off-time to be a time like that, but you know you take what’s laid out there for you, and you do the best you can. It’s kind of like when somebody in your family needs your help, you just jump in, ya know, you don’t worry too much about the details.”
Paris, who has worked at the University law school since 1992, was appointed interim dean in 2005 after Laird Kirkpatrick, her predecessor who served as dean for three and a half years, stepped down to return to teaching. Kirkpatrick currently teaches at George Washington University School of Law, and plans to return to the University in spring 2007.
“I really do feel excited. You know we’ve got a lot of growth and development that’s going on. We’ve got a lot of ideas that we want to follow up on,” Paris said.
“I love this place,” she added. “I love the people, I love the school, I love the University, I love Eugene, I love our students. So it’s good.”
Paris’ full dean status is different from interim status because it allows her more freedom to start programs and make decisions that affect the school long term. She said law school deans face a high burn-out rate and typically only serve two to three year tenures because legal education is constantly undergoing rapid changes.
“I guess I’m surprised to find myself so excited about it,” she said. “If you would have asked me six months ago, I would have said ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t want to do that,’” she said. “But having now stepped up to the plate, so to speak, I’m really finding myself stimulated. … I’m constantly being exposed to new ideas; I see the horizon much more. At this level you get to look out at the horizon and see the big picture stuff, and I love doing that.”
Paris said that as a full dean, she now has the ability to engage in strategic planning, hire faculty and develop the law school’s programs without worrying about whether the school should be doing that.
“Interim dean is somebody who kind of holds the fort until the next dean takes office. It’s a position in which one isn’t expected to – and probably shouldn’t – launch a lot of new initiatives, make a lot of decisions that change the future, because there’s going to be somebody coming on board in a short period of time,” she said.
Paris said she has developed several goals for her tenure, starting with finding ways to fund the law school. She said state revenues are declining, and students already face major debts from tuition after graduation. She said she hopes to increase fundraising from alumni and find new sources of grants and sponsored research. She would also like to pursue an entrepreneurial summer program to draw in new students from all over the country.
Her second goal is to focus on building the law school’s faculty. She said she hopes to bring more faculty to the school and create more support so faculty members aren’t spread too thin.
“Our faculty are asked to put their time and energy into a whole bunch of things,” she said. The school needs to find a way to support the faculty they already have so that they can “continue to produce top-notch research,” she said.
Her third goal is to increase diversity.
“What we saw happen in our dean search is sort of a microcosm of an issue that we want to work on,” she said. “Not only within our building but also as part of the whole University-wide effort.”
Her fourth goal is to re-imagine the program of legal education and curriculum to provide “cutting-edge legal education” so that students have the skills they need to practice the law that they desire.
Law professor Dom Vetri, who said he has worked with Paris for more than a decade, said Paris’ appointment is a terrific decision.
“Margie brings a lot of skill and talent to the job. In my opinion she’ll do a terrific job,” he said. “She is very much a people person.”

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