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Dean's Message: Welcome from Dean Jerry
On behalf of our faculty and staff, I am delighted to welcome our new and returning students to the college. This is shaping up to be one of the most event-filled years in our college’s history, and I hope that when mid-May 2009 appears on your calendar, you will look back on your 2008-09 academic experience as one of your best ever.
Starting today, tickets are available for students, faculty and staff to see Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Jr. judge our Moot Court "Final Four" on Friday, Sept. 5. On Wednesday, Sept. 17, the University’s Constitution Day Program will be held here at the law school and will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the integration of UF. A symposium in honor of the 51 years of continuous teaching at UF by retired Distinguished Professor Walter Weyrauch is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 29. Another U.S. Supreme Court Justice will visit us in November. And don’t forget the Glasser Bar-B-Q on Sept. 11. UF Law’s centennial year is 2009, and we will keep you informed as plans are finalized for how we will celebrate that significant milestone. Details on Chief Justice Roberts' visit and other events and announcements can be found in this and upcoming issues of FlaLaw, and I encourage you to make a habit of reading FlaLaw each Monday morning.
Ground was broken earlier this month for the new $6.0 million Martin H. Levin Advocacy Center, which will house a state-of-the-art courtroom and complete the total reconstruction of the college’s academic space during this decade. The impressive stand-alone 20,000 sq-ft center will boast a two-story grand foyer and glass entry with an open staircase that will rise south of Bruton-Geer Hall. It will house a fully functional trial and appellate courtroom on the first floor with a 98-seat gallery, bench for seven judges, a jury box and attorneys' tables. We expect minimal disruption from this construction, which will last about a year.
We have new faces at the college, and I hope you will meet them soon. I am delighted to report that we have successfully recruited several outstanding new faculty. Our new faculty colleagues are Assistant Professors Charlene Luke, D. Daniel Sokol and E. Lea Johnston (who will join us in Spring 2009), and Legal Skills Professors Deborah Cupples and Robin Davis. Do read more about each of these new UF Law faculty in this issue. Our visiting faculty include Kenneth Williams, Randall Clark, Linnie Benezech, and Silvia Menendez, and we are delighted to have them with us.
There are some new faces in the administration, too. After four years of excellent service to the college as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for which I am most grateful (which is addition to a four-year term he served in the 1990s), George Dawson is returning to his full-time faculty position. I am delighted that Professor Bill Page has agreed to assume the duties of Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. We also welcome our new Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Kari Mattox and our new Registrar Sharon Booker.
You are well aware of budget problems facing the state of Florida and affecting higher education. I will be available to discuss this in detail with interested students early this term, but I want you to know that our revenue gains in the law school budget (this includes the private support we receive from our alumni and friends) have been sufficient to largely offset the budget cuts imposed on all of higher education in Florida. I am disappointed that three faculty colleagues decided to accept offers at other law schools (Slobogin; Peterson; and Woodhouse in May 2009), but none of these resulted from the state-wide budget crisis. Although this is not the forum to discuss this in detail, personal considerations were dominant in the decisions of these faculty colleagues.
It is also important to understand that if your faculty were not being actively recruited by other law schools, it would mean your faculty is not as good as I have always claimed. Our goal, of course, must be to both recruit and retain an outstanding faculty, and that requires ample funding through tuition, state support, and private giving. I should also add that Professors Nunn, Seibecker, and Seigel will be visiting at other law schools this year, and we look forward to their return. We also welcome back Professors Cohen, Fenster, Noah, Peters, and Woodhouse from visits or leaves last year.
Finally, as we begin this new academic year, I would like to stress that among the many benefits of being a part of a large and comprehensive institution is the opportunity we have to learn from the diversity of backgrounds and cultures that are represented in our faculty, staff, and student body. I urge you to take advantage of this richness through interaction with those whose life experiences differ from your own. After all, there is much we can learn from each other.
This newsletter is for you, and I hope you will speak through it by submitting your news and suggestions to our Office of Communications at flalaw@law.ufl.edu. You also will find much information online at our Web site, www.law.ufl.edu, which also contains policies and guidelines to which students and other members of our community are expected to adhere as well as details and updated information on support services, financial information, student organizations, centers and institutes, course descriptions, faculty and staff, maps, and other helpful information. Again, welcome to and back to the Levin College of Law. I look forward to all of us having a very successful year.
— Bob Jerry, Dean and Levin, Mabie and Levin Professor
