Dean's Column

"WELCOME TO . . ."

As we welcome the students back for another year, and welcome the Class of 2003 for the first time, we will also welcome several new faculty and staff as we start a new cycle in the life of the law school.

This year Sidney L. Harring of the City University of New York Law School will be with us as the William J. Maier, Jr. Visiting Chair of Law. Professor Harring has a B.A. from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota; a J.D. from the University of Wisconsin where he was member of the law review; and a masters and a Ph.D in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin. Prior to joining the faculty at CUNY in 1990, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and the John Jay College. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Namibia in 1995, was a Visiting Fellow at Australian National University, and taught for a year at the College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan. He was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the MARA Institute of Technology in Malaysia, and was on the Faculty of Law at the University of Bombay in India, taught during the summer of 1986 at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and was a Faculty Exchange Scholar at Moscow State University in spring of 1980. He also was a Senior Rockefeller Foundation Fellow at the D'Arcy McNickle Center for the History of American Indian at Newberry Library in Chicago in the fall of 1986.

He is the author of two books on Native American Law, one involving Canadian Indians and one on American Indians, and a book entitled Policing A Class Society: The Experience of American cities 1865-1915. He is the author of numerous articles and book reviews.

While serving as the Visiting Maier Chair of Law, he will teach a course in Advance Criminal Law and a seminar in Indigenous People during the fall semester, and Criminal Procedure and a Death Penalty Seminar in the spring semester.

Professor Harring has a reputation as a fine classroom teacher and faculty colleague and we are looking forward to his year with us.

As you may recall, Professor Lisa Eichhorn, who taught in our Legal Research and Writing Program for seven years, was on a leave during the 1999-2000 academic year teaching at the University of Denver College of Law. Last December Lisa was offered and accepted the position as Director of the Legal Research and Writing program at the University of South Carolina beginning this academic year. When we learned of Lisa's decision, we conducted an extensive search to find her replacement and following that process we selected Alex Long for the permanent position. Alex had been "filling in" for Lisa while she was at Denver.

Alex is a graduate of William and Mary School of Law where he was the Topic and Research Editor of the William and Mary Law Review, recipient of the Kelly Scholarship, treasurer of the Law and Arts Society, and a public service volunteer. He is a cum laude graduate of James Madison University with a degree in political science and a minor in history. Following law school, Alex was an associate in the labor and employment section of the Steptoe & Johnson law firm in Clarksburg, WV. As a student, Alex authored a note entitled, Addressing the Cloud Over Employee References: A Survey of Recently Enacted State Legislation, and last year wrote an article entitled A Good Walk Spoiled: Casey Martin and the ADA's Reasonable Accommodation Requirement in Competitive Settings which will be published in the Oregon Law Review. Alex also has a forthcoming article entitled Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations: The Other White Meat of Employment Law which will be published in the Minnesota Law Review.

In addition to teaching Legal Research and Writing, Alex will teach Contracts II in the spring semester.

We are also very pleased to welcome Ms. Ellen Goodwin as the new Development Officer assigned to our College of Law. As you are perhaps aware, the West Virginia University Foundation will announce a major capital campaign in support of West Virginia University this fall. As has been discussed in this column on other occasions, private dollars are truly making a difference in the life of our law school in so many ways. Ellen will be working with the staff at the WVU Foundation as we seek the private resources which will make our law school's aspirational goals realistic possibilities.

Ellen brings to this position experience as a Senior Account Executive for Willard & Associates, as the Director of Development for the West Virginia Institute of Technology, as the Executive Director of the West Virginia Bar Association, and as the Director of Development for the Education Alliance. She is a graduate of WVU with a bachelor of music education and has 14 years of experience as public school teacher in Monongalia and Jackson counties. Ellen has served as a member of the boards of trustees or directors of various civic organizations, including the Jackson General Hospital, the West Virginia Hospital Association, the Ohio-West Virginia YMCA, and she currently is a member of the Leadership Development Committee for the American Hospital Association.

I anticipate that many of you already know Ellen from her work with the Bar Association or perhaps in some other capacity and, therefore, will understand why we are so please to have her joining us in this important administrative role.

Finally, an indication of what a vibrant law school we presently have is the activity of our faculty. Professor Debra Cohen will be visiting the University of Richmond during the fall semester and Professor Frank Cleckley is scheduled to visit DePaul in the spring semester. In addition, Professor Lisa Kelly will be on sabbatical during the fall semester and Professors Robert Bastress and Marjorie McDiarmid will be on sabbatical during the spring semester. These activities provide not only an important opportunity for the individual to engage in a challenging academic pursuit, but serve to reinvigorate the faculty at our College of Law.