September 11, 2017 - First Monday
Upcoming Events
“‘A Republic If You Can Keep It’ – The American Constitution and the Judiciary in Hyper-Partisan Times”
Constitution Day Lecture
1:30 p.m. Pacific time, Sept. 15
Law 104
Moscow, ID
2:30 p.m. Mountain time, Sept. 15
ILJLC 313
Boise, ID
Sherman J. Bellwood Lecture
Reception and remarks
5 p.m. Mountain time, Oct 10
The Grove Hotel Ballroom
Boise, ID
“It’s Now on Us: Reporting on the Status of Women and Girls” Lecture and reception
2:30 p.m. Pacific time, Oct. 11
Bruce M. Pitman Center’s International Ballroom
Moscow, ID
Here at the College of Law, the fall semester is in full swing with classes starting on Aug. 21. We were lucky enough to be in the path of the eclipse and many of students, faculty and staff gathered outside our buildings to take it in. Speaking of rare occurrences, I had the opportunity for the first time to welcome our first-year class in Moscow one day and then our first-year class to our Boise location the next (pictures in the header of our new 1Ls). The excitement and energy they bring to our buildings confirm why we as a college have worked hard to bring a full J.D. program to both Moscow and Boise.
Admissions Update
According to preliminary numbers, we are pleased to announce that we experienced a 12 percent enrollment increase over the past year, from 97 first-year students in 2016-17 to a first-year enrollment of 109 students this fall – 53 in Moscow and 56 in Boise. This fall’s first-year class also saw higher entrance credentials, moving the median LSAT score from 152 to 153 and the median undergraduate GPA from 3.23 to 3.29. The new class is 47 percent female, the highest percentage since 1998, and 17 percent of the students identify as ethnically diverse. In addition to the first-year class, the College of Law welcomed six transfer students this fall. This brings the total enrollment in the College of Law to 311 students. These numbers are not final and could still change.
Sherman J. Bellwood Lecture
I am pleased to welcome women’s rights icon Anita Hill as our speaker for the annual Sherman J. Bellwood Lecture Oct. 10-11 in Boise and Moscow.
Now a professor of social policy, women’s studies and law at Brandeis University, Hill was thrust into the public spotlight in 1991 when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the confirmation hearing for U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Judge Clarence Thomas. She has since dedicated her career to speaking worldwide about building on the strides made by the women’s and civil rights movements. Anita Hill
Hill will speak at 5 p.m. Mountain time, Tuesday, Oct. 10, in the ballroom of the Grove Hotel in Boise. The event begins with a public reception followed by remarks.
She will deliver the Bellwood lecture, “It’s Now on Us: Reporting on the Status of Women and Girls”, in Moscow at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday, Oct. 11, in the Bruce M. Pitman Center’s International Ballroom. A public reception will follow. The Moscow and Boise programs are free and open to the public.
Professorships Named
I’m pleased to congratulate the recipients of the Allan G. Shepard Professorship and the Margaret Wilson Schimke Distinguished Professorship.
Professor Wendy Couture is the Alan G. Shepard Professor of Law.The Allan G. Shepard Professorship is supported by the Allan Shepard Endowment, which was funded largely by the Estate of Muriel Kirk under administration of Donna Shepard (Justice Shepard's surviving spouse). The endowment supports a professorship for "at least one academic year." The professorship is awarded by the dean to a faculty member with a record of "distinguished service to legal education, or to his or her area of expertise."
The Margaret Wilson Schimke Professor of Law is Professor Richard Seamon. The Margaret Wilson Schimke Distinguished Professorship is one of three multi-year professorships (along with the Weldon Schimke and James E. Wilson professorships) supported by the James E. Wilson Memorial Endowment Fund that was established by the late Weldon Schimke.
Natural Resources Environmental Law Field Course
Professor Jerrold Long spent the week before the fall semester leading a group of law and water resources graduate students on the college's natural resources and environmental law field course. They travel throughout Idaho interacting with resource managers and visiting with the environmental non-profit Friends of the Teton River.
Throughout the course, the students learned about the complexities of natural resources management and heard at every stop of the importance of public outreach and engagement. More significantly, the students experienced firsthand the effects law has on the ground, on real people, and in real places. Thanks to Professor Long for creating this course and providing our students such an incredible opportunity.
Have a wonderful September,
Mark L. Adams
Dean
College of Law
