University of New Mexico School of Law Dean Resigns

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Summary: Citing disagreements with some of the school’s faculty, the University of New Mexico School of Law has announced that Dean David Herring has resigned.

David Herring, the dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, is resigning just two years into the position. Apparently, the resignation stems from policy disagreements with some of the school’s faculty.

  

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According to the Albuquerque Journal, Provost Chaouki Abdallah announced the dean’s resignation on Tuesday. In a letter, he said, “Yesterday, I regretfully accepted the resignation of Dean Herring effective July 1, 2015. Dean Herring will remain at UNM as a valued and tenured member of the law school faculty when his term as dean ends. I welcome his continued contributions on behalf of the law school and the University as he has indicated to me how much he is looking forward to developing further his scholarship and teaching.”

Last year, a law student group at the school was under investigation for an unsanctioned bank account.

Abdallah said that he has already met with the faculty to discuss a search for a new dean. An interim dean will not be appointed at this time, and the school has no plans to conduct a national search. The law school is the only one in the state of New Mexico, according to Wikipedia.

Abdallah said, “Rather, we will conduct a limited competitive search” for a permanent dean “based on the University’s guidelines for internal competitive searches for academic administrative appointments.” The applicants are limited to UNM Law School senior faculty, and the plan is to have a new dean in place by July 1.

Herring said, “I think in the end it wasn’t a good fit, for me to lead this law school. I came in with clear goals and the faculty seemed excited. But things change.”

The school suffered a fifty percent drop in applications over a six-year period.

Two of Herring’s goals when he became dean were a “rigorous assessment of student learning outcomes,” which is now required to be accredited by the American Bar Association, and to “build incentives for the faculty t engage in interdisciplinary, empirical scholarship.” In a separate interview, with Albuquerque Business First, Herring said that learning a budget inside and out was the most important thing he’d learned.

According to Abdallah, the faculty was not keen on moving as quickly on the issues as Herring preferred. The resignation was discussed for a “couple of days” before it became official.

In the fall, the dean of Buffalo Law School announced his resignation.

Before becoming dean, Herring taught lawyering, antitrust, and constitutional law at the University of Pittsburgh, where he served as dean from 1998 to 2005.

Source: Albuquerque Journal

Photo credit: Wikipedia