Kevin Cole - University of San Diego

message from the dean
Looking Back, Moving Forward
This message reaches you at about
the time that I welcome the fall
2006 incoming class to campus;
the first class I welcome as dean
of the law school. Times like this
both summon memories and inspire
plans. Let me share some of each.
When I joined the faculty in the fall
1987 semester, Sheldon Krantz was
dean. He was followed by Grant
Morris (as interim dean), Kristine
Strachan, Grant Morris (as interim
dean again) and Daniel Rodriguez.
Under the leadership of these deans,
USD evolved. Before I arrived on the
picturesque mesa on which USD sits,
the law school had a solid reputation
for providing rigorous, high-quality
preparation for new lawyers.
Since my arrival, however, I have
had the great pleasure of watching
the school grow in national reputation.
Faculty members hired during my
time here—as well as those who came
before—have done much to raise
the scholarly profile of the school.
Recently in the Leiter Law School
Rankings, out of the 194 faculties at
ABA-accredited law schools, our fac-
2 ❖ 23:1 / USD LAW ADVOCATE
ulty was ranked 22nd nationally in
overall scholarly quality in a survey of
leading law academics and 23rd nationally
in a study measuring how often
faculty work is cited by others. In the
twelve-month period ending in July
2006, the faculty ranked 19th nationally
in the number of times their papers
have been downloaded from the Social
Science Research Network.
The rising recognition of the faculty
has occurred in conjunction with the
rising credentials of our entering students.
When I joined the faculty, we
received 2,450 applications for our
entering class; in the last few years,
the number has consistently exceeded
5,000 and once exceeded 6,000. The
increasing popularity of the school has,
as one might expect, brought an increase
in the statistical profile of the
incoming class.
Looking forward, my goal is to continue
the upward trends from which
I have benefited during my career at
USD. We should continue to remain
attractive to gifted scholars who enjoy
(and excel at) the process of educating
new lawyers. And we should make
USD even more attractive to prospective
students. We have recently augmented
the resources available to our
Career Services Office to enable our
new Assistant Dean of Career Services,
Cara Mitnick, to make the changes
needed to improve our services to students
in this vital area, and we are likewise
increasing other student services.
USD’s future success will depend on
our ability to increase financial support
for the school from alumni and other
friends, and making the case for that
support will be an important focus during
the coming years. I need look no
further back than the past year to feel
confident about the future in this regard.
The report on the capital campaign
for the law school, which
appears later in this issue, shows the
willingness of our alumni and friends to
support the school’s ambitions. While
we currently lag behind our competitors
in the size of our endowment, we
can confidently look forward to the
day when the resources available to the
school make our past a mere prologue
to the even greater successes ahead.
KEVIN COLE
DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF LAW