Wednesday, March 29, 2023
AASE: 10 Years of Winners
Since AASE was founded, it has been a support system for all of those working in Academic Support. A community that uplifts one another, and offers constant support. From my very first conference, where I knew absolutely no one, it was easy to find people willing to share information, guidance, a lesson plan, handouts, or just a meal where you both could commiserate about life.
At the 2016 meeting in New York there was a discussion about starting a tradition of giving out awards. Many thought this was a great idea, since ASPers are generally unsung and unrecognized for their work. It also felt very "Asp-ish" to recognize and support one another in a very official capacity. However, I distinctly remember there were concerns about singling people out, because doesn't EVERYONE work hard? Shouldn't we ALL be recognized for our efforts? Is it ASP-ish to only award SOME of our membership? The reason this stuck with me is because I feel like the conversation really speaks to the essence of AASE - wanting to support each other and lift one another up, but without putting others down or diminishing the accomplishments of others.
Personally, I think we found a great balance and have been able to recognize 20 outstanding AASE members in 5 years, and I can't wait to recognize more in the next 5!
Our very first award winners in 2017 were:
Elizabeth Bloom
Reichi Lee
Joanna Harvest Koren
In 2018 we recognized:
Rebecca Flanagan
Nancy Luebbert
in 2019 we decided to actually name our awards, and recognize:
Amy Jarmon — ASP Inspiration Award
Herb Ramy — Enhancements in ASP Award
Jendayi Saada — Spirit of ASP Award
Shane Dizon — Guiding Light Award
Raul Ruiz — ASP Innovator Award
Kent Lollis — Order of Distinction
Sadly, in 2020 we had to cancel our annual meeting, and didn't get to recognize anyone. However, in 2021, we recognized:
Dena Sonbol — Institutional Leadership Award
Lesa Byrnes — Student Support & Impact Award
Paulina Davis — Mentorship Award
Kirsha Trychta — Impact Award
In 2022, we recognized our first group award, among others:
Academic Support Black Woman's Collective - Guiding Light Award
Antonia Miceli - Enhancements in ASP Award
Goldie Pritchard - ASP Inspirational Award
Liz Stillman - Spirit of ASP Award
Marsha Griggs - ASP Impact Award
Now, it's time to decide who we recognize in 2023!
If you know someone who deserves to be recognized for their work in 2023, please submit a nomination describing why the ASPer deserves recognition to [email protected] by Monday, April 3rd.
See you in Santa Clara, where registration is still open here.
(Melissa Hale)
March 29, 2023 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Academic and Bar Support Scholarship Spotlight
Scott, Jason M. (AccessLex) and Jackson, Joshua (AccessLex), What Is Quality? Advancing Value-Added Approaches to Assessing Law School Bar Exam Performance (SSRN 2022).
From the abstract:
U.S. News & World Report rankings and tier groupings are often used as proxy measures of law school quality. But many of the factors that contribute to both law school outcomes and U.S. News rankings (e.g., undergraduate GPAs [UGPA], LSAT scores, admission rates) do not reflect the impact law schools have on student outcomes, such as bar passage and employment. We propose a method for measuring institutional quality that is based on a school’s ability to improve its graduates’ likelihood of first-time bar passage while controlling for those students’ preadmission characteristics. Using a value-added modeling technique, we first isolate each law school’s expected bar performance for the 2013–2018 bar takers given those cohorts’ entering characteristics and the school’s attrition and transfer patterns, then identify the degree to which this prediction overperforms or underperforms the school’s actual bar performance. Additionally, we utilize a bar pass differential rather than a school’s first-time bar pass rate, allowing us to account for variation between jurisdictions’ grading and cut scores. Finally, we provide a ranked list of law schools based on their added value for each entering cohort.
2. Buffington, Joe (Albany), Conditional Answers to Multiple-Choice Questions: Three Linguistic Problems (and Solutions) for 'if', 69 J. of L. Educ. 384 (2020).
From the abstract:
Multiple-choice questions are a staple of the law school experience, and they appear on the bar exam in every state in the United States. While it’s reasonable to ask whether multiple-choice items are optimal tools for assessing whether students have accomplished curricular learning objectives or demonstrated minimum competence to practice law, the American Bar Association (ABA) requires under its standards for the accreditation of law schools that law schools prepare their students for admission to the bar, and whether schools have done so is measured in large part by their bar pass rates. If for no other reason, ABA-accredited law schools would seem to have a duty to educate their students in multiple-choice technique.
But how many law school professors are prepared to educate their students in multiple-choice technique, as opposed to the doctrine underlying the multiple-choice items, in their formative and summative assessments? Is it possible to instruct students in best techniques for answering multiple-choice questions without being aware of best practices for constructing such items?
The aim of this short article, in which I use linguistic methodology to probe some problems for using “if” as a conditional qualifier in multiple-choice answers, is to suggest that the better response to the latter question is no and from there to inspire new conversations in the legal academy regarding best practices for constructing multiple-choice items.
3. Gutowski, Nachman (St. Thomas (FL)) and Bell, Kayla, How Are Bar Exam Results Reported? A National Guide (SSRN 2023).
From the abstract:
Below you will find a detailed explanation of all publicly available information on every jurisdiction in the United States and if/how they release Bar Exam pass rate information. Additionally, a searchable and editable excel formatted list is available upon request to [email protected] and allows for manipulation and interaction toward creating groupings and understanding choices made. Finally, visual aids in the form of maps have been provided at the end of the document, depicting some of the most used and referenced data points to allow a quick view of the national landscape.
The impact of these choices is far-reaching. You are invited to utilize this data to support your scholarship.
March 28, 2023 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, March 27, 2023
BOLO
Please be on the lookout for the 2023 AASE surveys later this week. We plan to launch the individual and institutional surveys on Wednesday and have them remain open until April 14th. We are looking to collect data on who we are, who we serve, our status in the academic hierarchy, and what we do both inside and outside the ASP/Bar Prep paradigms. We will be presenting our findings at the AASE 10th Anniversary Conference in May.
Please, everyone, fill out your individual survey when you receive it! It is entirely anonymous. If you are a program director, you get to fill out two surveys (yay!): one for yourself and one for your school.
Our quest for equity begins with the collection of data. We are valuable members of every law school’s faculty team, and while it seems unsavory (and sometimes outright unfair) to have to prove ourselves to get the respect (and salary) we deserve, we must. More participation gives our data more credibility for use later on.
Be counted and seen!
(Liz Stillman)
March 27, 2023 in Meetings, Program Evaluation | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, March 24, 2023
Director of Academic Success at Richmond
The University of Richmond School of Law invites applications for a faculty position
that will design and implement programming and courses related to Academic Success
and Bar Support. We seek a colleague who is knowledgeable about the science of adult
learning and best practices for bar exam preparations, is passionate about assisting all
students in achieving their full potential, and who will thrive in a collaborative
environment.
Responsibilities include:
• Designing academic success programs and workshop for 1Ls;
• Developing orientation and pre-orientation programs to help matriculating
students enter law school with the tools they need to succeed;
• Supporting students preparing for the bar exam, including developing and
teaching bar preparation courses;
• Advising and coaching students on an individual basis;
• In collaboration with senior leaders, developing and implementing programs and
workshops for faculty on topics such as providing helpful feedback, academic
advising, bar coaching, and integration of skills and learning strategies into
academic coursework and co-curricular efforts.
The Law School believes deeply in the transformative power of legal education, and
Academic Success programming is vital to its mission. The new Director will join others
on the faculty who have been working in the field for years as well as a broad crosssection
of the faculty who have been applying ASP insights in their own classes. Other
existing programming that will contribute to the success of the new Director includes an
established Professional Identity Formation Program (which is run by a full-time director
and faculty member) as well as numerous wellness initiatives managed by the Dean of
Students.
This is a full-time, 12-month, non-tenure-track faculty position. Depending on
experience, a successful candidate will be hired as Assistant or Associate Professor of
Law, Legal Practice and will be eligible for promotion and for a five-year presumptively
renewable contract. A J.D. degree is required as well as at least three years of relevant
teaching experience.
The University of Richmond School of Law is a top-ranked law school that combines a
rigorous academic program with extensive clinical and experiential learning opportunities
to prepare students for 21st-century legal practice. The law faculty are among the best
teacher-scholars in the nation with a commitment to producing knowledge that expands
the understanding of law and contributes to the improvement of society. The Law
School also cultivates a genuinely collegial community marked by engagement, civility,
inclusivity, and concern for others and the greater good.
The University of Richmond is a private university located just a short drive from
downtown Richmond, Virginia, Through its five schools and wide array of campus
programming, the University combines the best qualities of a small liberal arts college
and a large university.
The University of Richmond is committed to developing a diverse workforce and student
body, and to modeling an inclusive campus community which values the expression of
difference in ways that promote excellence in teaching, learning, personal development,
and institutional success. Our academic community strongly encourage applications that
are in keeping with this commitment. For more information on the School of Law, please
visit https://law.richmond.edu/
Applicants should apply by submitting cover letter & current curriculum vitae to
March 24, 2023 in Jobs - Descriptions & Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, March 20, 2023
Spring!? Break
Why was last week called spring break when it wasn’t spring yet? Technically, it was a late winter’s folly or perhaps a mid-semester break, but spring, not so much. Before we took our week off, I met with numerous students and asked them about their plans for their time away from school. They mainly responded with the following:
- Outlining: “I am going to catch up and make sure they are all up to date.”
- Reading: “I am going to get ahead in my reading so that the week we return isn’t stressful.”
- Practice questions: “both multiple choice and essay!”
To which I said, “fabulous, and?” They scrambled a bit to find the one aspect of studying they had not mentioned that would be what I wanted to hear. They asked, “what else should I be doing?”
I was worried that these students wouldn’t take some time to do something fun, do something restorative, or disengage from being a law student for at least a few hours. We all know that after the break, the semester has turned a corner and started running downhill to finals. There are no other breaks (except here in Massachusetts, we have one long weekend for the marathon) until exams.
Yes, outlining, reading, and practicing are exactly what students should be doing at this time in the semester, but not taking care of body and soul for at least some of this time seemed like a lost opportunity to be in the right space to start the downhill run. I prescribed some discrete fun: walk down to the aquarium and watch the harbor seals for a few minutes, take the commuter rail somewhere new for an afternoon, cook a meal/dessert or better yet, a pie for Pi day, look at the ocean, really anything. It didn’t have to be an all-day event, and there is a lot of free fun to be had in Boston if you are a student. I stopped short of making them swear an oath to loaf a bit, but I did stress the importance of a little downtime.
Sure, I will encounter students who come in for their meetings this week tan, or on crutches from ski-related injuries, who will say they did nothing but have fun over the break. I wish them well. Me? I did class prep, grading, laundry, and baked the most heavenly fluffy peanut butter and chocolate pie[1] for Pi day. And I wore sweat pants. Every. Single. Day.
(Liz Stillman)
[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvthKMp4XS/
March 20, 2023 in Exams - Theory, Miscellany, Stress & Anxiety, Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Advice from a Part-time Student
As a parent, I usually know what is best for my kids. That isn't always what they think is best, and that is when conflict arises. However, sometimes they find a way to get to the right conclusion without my guidance. I just have to get out of the way, which is not my strongest quality.
Many of our students are the same way. With space and information, they can find a way to the right conclusion, even if it requires help from their peers. I was incredibly proud of one of my part-time students a couple weeks ago. A student asked me in class about potential job offers and what to do if they required working during the summer. I give my standard answer about working the least amount possible and exhaustion, but students legitimately worry about a job as much as bar prep. That is when one of my part-time students spoke up. She said the hardest part for her during law school wasn't the actual number of hours each week. Finding those hours is hard, but she could find hours in the day. She emphasized the hardest part was the mental exhaustion from getting everything done. She worked hard and did the vast majority of the work during her time, but she reiterated that the mental load was enormous. The load was so large, that she found a way to not work during the summer after working full-time for four years of law school. The impact she had on the entire class was obvious. I just had to sit back and let the discussion happen. That may have been the most productive fifteen minutes of the entire class period because I let the students lead.
I won't always let the students provide advice because sometimes it isn't ideal. However, many students can find their way to the right answer with only slight direction and hearing from peers. Teaming up with a good group of third-year students to pass along a message could make a big impact in bar prep programs.
(Steven Foster)
March 19, 2023 in Bar Exam Preparation | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Call for AASE Award Nominations!
AASE provides awards to acknowledge excellence in the academic support field at the annual conference. Click here to see the history of the awards, beginning with the 5th Conference in 2017.
AASE developed the following recommendations for the Award Committee:
- AASE should recognize members’ valuable contributions to law school academic support
- AASE awards should have as an important objective the recognition of early and mid-career ASP professors
- AASE Awards should be for specific work or in specific categories
- The goal of AASE awards should be honoring contributions, not covering categories
The 2023 Awards committee, Melissa Hale (Chair), Megan Kreminski, and Ashley London, are soliciting nominations for contributions by individuals, or in appropriate circumstances, groups, in any of the following areas:
- Specific ideas or innovations—whether disseminated through academic writing, newsletters, conference presentations or over the listserv
- Specific services to the profession—e.g., advocacy with the NCBE, etc.
- Providing services to students
- Promoting diversity in the profession and expanding access to the legal profession
- Mentoring and supporting others in ASP
Recognition may be given to more than one individual or group in any of these categories, and no category requires an award in any one year.. We fully recognize just how many ASP educators have made heroic contributions to their students and to the profession.. For these reasons, the Awards Committee will consider all nominations received, while keeping in mind there must be a reasonable limit for awards in any one year.. Anyone in law school academic support may offer nominations, but current AASE Board members and AASE Awards Committee members are ineligible for recognition. Awards recipients must be members of AASE at the time an award is bestowed.
Please send your nominations to Melissa Hale at [email protected], by April 3rd, 2023.
Thank you,
AASE Awards Committee 2023
March 15, 2023 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, March 13, 2023
Numbers Game
Academic Support and Bar Prep educators are among the hardest working people I know. We are selfless student supporters. We are scholars. We are generous with our work, praise, and time. As a group, we would probably be voted “Most Likely to go Above and Beyond” in a fictional law school yearbook. However, one accolade we are not going to get in this fictional yearbook (at least at this moment) is “Most Likely to get Tenure.”
We need to go above and beyond on our own behalf to gain the job equity, security, and salary that recognizes the work we do. We need to take a small fraction of our focus and use it for ourselves and each other.
In about two weeks, you will get two surveys from AASE. One is for you individually, and the other for your institution. If you are the director of your program, you should fill out one of each, if not, please only fill out the individual survey and nag your director to fill out the institutional survey for your school. If you don’t see the survey by April 1st, please contact AASE at: [email protected] and we will send you the surveys.
Here’s the thing, we all need this data. We need to know who we are and how we are doing as a group. We need to know what job security looks like for us --or if there is any at all. We need to know how much we are being underpaid compared to other groups of law school faculty. Knowing what we all do both in and outside of the ASP realm is important. Knowing what we teach, how often, and when we teach it, is incredibly valuable information. I know it seems intrusive, and my mother would often say that asking about salary is just “tacky,” but our institutions will be looking for this information when we propose a change.
Data is how the legal writing community successfully waged their tenure battles. Numbers seem like unlikely armaments, but at the moment, they are the tools we need. When the results of the survey are presented at the AASE conference in May, please do not be the person listening and thinking, “they haven’t captured my situation.” We want to capture you (not in a kidnapping or any other creepy way, you know what I mean….hopefully…). We want the team photo of "ASP educators with tenure" to be big enough to need a full page spread in future yearbooks.
Getting the appropriate and earned equity, security, and pay for our community will be a numbers game. Please play.
(Liz Stillman)
March 13, 2023 in Encouragement & Inspiration, Professionalism, Program Evaluation | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Assistant Director of Academic Support at USC
USC Gould School of Law is hiring an Assistant Director of ASP. The link to apply and a job description are below. Please direct questions to Vice Dean Lybby Carroll ([email protected]).
Here is the link to the posting:
And here is the description:
Assistant Director of Academic Success Program
USC Gould School of Law seeks applications for a full-time Professor of Lawyering Skills, who will serve as the Assistant Director of the Academic Success Program (ASP). The position will begin in the spring or summer of 2023. This position is an open rank, meaning that we may hire a full, associate, or assistant professor depending on experience. Professor of Lawyering Skills is a year-round Research, Teaching, Practitioner, or Clinical (RTPC) faculty position. RTPC positions are non-tenure track positions.
The Academic Success Program
The mission of the law school’s ASP is to ensure that all JD students have the support they need to succeed academically and be prepared for the legal profession. The program has a Director and Assistant Director. The Director reviews the program regularly and modifies it, in collaboration with the Dean and the faculty, to ensure that it continues to offer services and support that meet the needs of our students and address the current requirements and demands of the continually evolving legal profession. The Assistant Director assists the director in teaching courses, counseling students, and developing and running program events.
Coursework
In the spring of the first year, ASP offers a one-credit course, Topics in Legal Analysis, for invited JD students who want to improve their analytical and exam-taking skills. Topics comprises three sections, one for each 1L supersection, and typically enrolls up to 30 students total (around 10 per supersection). Students who take the course practice outlining legal concepts in 1L courses and writing essay-exam questions that call for an analysis of legal issues raised by a hypothetical fact pattern. The program also offers a two-credit course, Legal Analysis of Evidence, to a segment of JD students during the fall of their second year. Legal Analysis of Evidence typically enrolls between 20 and 30 students and analyzes the rules of Evidence using weekly problems, multiple-choice questions, and essay exams designed to improve analytic skills and problem-solving.
Counseling
Upper-division students in ASP receive one-on-one academic counseling to help them achieve academic success, success on the bar exam, and success in the practice of law.
Other Programming
ASP also offers a full range of programming for 1Ls, including workshops about academic skills and a simulated practice exam. ASP also organizes and leads Gould Preview, a pre-orientation program designed to provide additional transitional support to a segment of incoming 1Ls (seehttps://gould.usc.edu/about/news/?id=5002). Gould Preview takes place two weeks before fall classes begin and requires planning and preparation during the summer.
The Assistant Director Role
The Assistant Director assists and collaborates with the Director in providing ASP offerings to students. The responsibilities of the position include the following.
Program Development
The Assistant Director is expected to keep abreast of developments in ASP pedagogy and bring fresh ideas to the program with the goal of assisting the Director in optimizing the program and its offerings and making any needed modifications.
Teaching
The Assistant Director is responsible for teaching one ASP course (either one of the existing ASP courses (Topics in Legal Analysis or Legal Analysis of Evidence) or another three-unit ASP course), as well as a second three-unit course.
Counseling
The Assistant Director meets regularly with students and counsels them regarding academic, analytical, and study skills, as well as course selection and preparation for the Bar Exam.
Programming
The Assistant Director is responsible for assisting the Director in developing and running ASP programming, including 1L workshops and practice-exam sessions. The Assistant Director also helps the Director organize and run the Gould Preview program and support other 1L orientation activities.
Collaborating with Others Who Support Students
The Director and Assistant Director collaborate with the Dean of Students and the first-year faculty to identify students in need of academic support and other resources. The Assistant Director and Director also communicate regularly with the Registrar’s office concerning academic scheduling issues that arise in student counseling sessions.
Participating as a Faculty Member
The Assistant Director participates in committee work and other service activities expected of Gould faculty.
Requirements:
A J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school and prior law teaching experience are required. Substantial experience in academic support or teaching legal writing and familiarity with academic support pedagogy are strongly preferred.
The Assistant Director must have a keen interest in academic support and bring energy and innovation to the program. The Assistant Director must also have excellent oral and written communication skills with strong attention to detail; excellent writing and editing abilities; sound legal skills and knowledge; an affinity for counseling and mentoring students; strong people skills; cultural competency; strong public-speaking skills; and excellent time-management and organizational skills. The position requires the ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships within a diverse environment, including the ability to work productively with the Director and others at the law school who support students. Relevant teaching experience (e.g., legal writing) and experience as a practicing attorney are strongly preferred.
Compensation and Benefits:
The University of Southern California offers a competitive salary within an academic environment based on the candidate’s experience and accomplishments. The university also offers excellent benefits, described here: https://employees.usc.edu/full-time-faculty-staff/
Applying for this Position:
Please submit a CV/resume, statement of interest, one or more sets of sample teaching evaluations, and names and contact information for three references. Applications should also include a succinct statement on fostering an environment of diversity and inclusion.
Applicants are encouraged to include in their statement of interest their own vision for ASP.
Equity, diversity, inclusion, opportunity, and access are of central importance to the Gould School of Law. Gould holds a unique position in society, and within the university, as every aspect of these principles are influenced by and can be protected through legal rules and institutions. At Gould, we are proudly committed to maintaining a community in which each person respects the rights of others to live, work, and learn in peace and dignity, to be proud of who and what they are, and to have equal opportunity to realize their full potential as individuals and members of society.
March 11, 2023 in Jobs - Descriptions & Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
AASE as Building a Community of Scholars and Advocates
This post is third in the series discussing the origins of the Association of Academic Support Educators, founded in 2013. Written by Louis Schulze.
My first academic support conference was in Miami, hosted by UM Law’s legendary Joanne Harvest Koren. I had been hired for my first ASP position maybe a month earlier, so I had no idea what to expect at an LSAC Training. Always abiding by the adage of “better to be overdressed than underdressed,” I brought a suit.
I was overdressed.
Badly.
But who could have predicted that Brooks Brothers would not work well in Miami in late May?
While removing my tie in a futile effort to blend in, I started to realize that a gathering of academic support educators came with a unique feel. In place of academia’s penchant for contrivance, I found authenticity. In place of academia’s tendency to instill impostor syndrome, I found a community fostering growth. My entire experience at that first conference can be summed up by my memory of being forcibly yanked onto a dance floor jam-packed with a sea of my new ASP colleagues participating in a salsa dancing lesson. I cannot imagine a better introduction to what “ASP-ish” means.
Over time, as more law schools implemented academic support programs, the LSAC trainings grew larger. As they grew, one could hear yet more voices echoing the concerns we all seemed to feel. Coming from what was then a one-person ASP, it was a revelation for me to hear others describing the exact frustrations I experienced in my work but could not quite explain to non-ASP colleagues. It became clear that many members of our community had stories to tell, and those stories had a lot to do with how unnecessary obstructions got in the way of supporting students’ success.
As a result, one of the reasons why AASE came about was to create a space for scholarship and status advocacy. Because those issues were understandably outside the scope of LSAC trainings, AASE provided a venue for our community to crowd-source ideas that could be shared externally so as to move the field forward and reposition academic support educators into circumstances more likely to lead to success. For instance, an early venture included conversations with the ABA regarding what would become Interpretation 501-1 of Standard 501, providing that the effectiveness of a school’s academic support program would be a factor in assessing compliance with admissions standards. Scholarly work at that time analyzed previously unchartered territory on crucial topics like stereotype threat in law school and equity in licensure. AASE provided an environment for scholarly presentations during which writers could sharpen their ideas through discourse with others in the field.
Ten years later, our ASP community has built a canon of scholarship that has defined not only the details of what we do but also the ways law schools can do better. When I began teaching in the field, the number of for-credit academic support courses could be counted on one hand, and bar support courses were impermissible by rule. But through the scholarship and advocacy of so many AASE members, these and other obstacles have faded.
May we never stop salsa dancing.
(If you want to find someone that will drag you out on to the dance floor, both literally and metaphorically, join AASE for the 10th Annual Conference in Santa Clara - Registration now open! https://associationofacademicsupporteducators.org/events/2023-10th-annual-aase-conference/)
March 8, 2023 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, March 4, 2023
Director of Academic Success at UNLV
Job Description
ROLE of the POSITION
The Director oversees and is responsible for all Academic Success Program (ASP) programming and initiatives in support of the law school’s full-time, part-time day, and part-time evening students. The Director is a full-time non-tenure-track faculty member as an Assistant, Associate or full Professor-in-Residence (title will be dependent on relevant experience) with administrative responsibilities. The Director works closely with law faculty and administration to develop and implement programs to support student achievement in law school, help students and alumni pass the bar examination, and develop the habits and skills required for professional success. The Director interacts with students in formal and informal classes, conducts workshops and outreach on essential law school skills and bar exam preparation, and meets individually with students seeking to improve their academic performance and to develop strategies for bar exam study and success. The Director is expected to identify students who are likely to benefit from ASP resources and encourage their participation in ASP programming. The Director plays a prominent role in developing and planning the new (and transfer) student orientation by introducing students to legal reasoning and analysis, task and time management, and the services provided by ASP.
The Director, who is expected to be familiar with national bar exam standards and trends in bar exam administration and assessment, and serves as the law school’s authority on the Nevada bar examination, its content, and trends in that content. The Director works directly with students and alumni individually and in groups on bar preparation and with the law school faculty and administration on analysis of bar examination results and strategies for maximizing bar passage for Boyd graduates.
The Director supervises an Assistant Director and paid upper-class student mentors and leads their deployment in meeting ASP objectives. The faculty and administration expect that the Director will be a resource for its members to increase teaching effectiveness. Given the nature of the position’s responsibilities and the composition of the student body, the Director will be required to work evening and weekend hours as necessary. The Director is expected to teach one three-credit course each semester.
Responsibilities:
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Provide individual feedback and assessment to help students improve academic performance, study skills, and bar exam preparation
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Create and teach regular group sessions to help students improve academic performance, study skills, and bar exam preparation
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Teach Bar Exam Foundations, Performance Tests on Bar Exams, and other courses based on curricular needs
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Supervise the Assistant Director of Academic Success and upper-class student mentors
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Work with Associate Dean for Student Affairs to prepare and deliver academic content to incoming students during the summer and law school orientation (Intro to Law)
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Work with Career Development Office and Lawyering Process faculty to help students improve their legal writing and create writing samples for job and clerkship applications
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Contribute to the national academic success and bar preparation community
PROFILE of the DEPARTMENT/COLLEGE
The William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV is a leading public law school founded on a commitment to public service and community engagement. With its nationally ranked Lawyering Process Program, Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, and the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic, Boyd offers a dynamic curriculum designed to teach students critical thinking and lawyering skills. Boyd has an LL.M. in Gaming Law and Regulation and a variety of distinctive Programs in Health Law; Indian Nations Gaming and Governance; International, Transnational, and Comparative Law; and Race, Gender & Policing. Through its J.D. curriculum, students can pursue academic concentrations in Business and Commercial Law, Dispute Resolution, Health Law, Intellectual Property, and Workplace and Employment Law. The law school is located at the heart of the UNLV campus. UNLV is an R1 research university that is among the most diverse campuses in the nation and is also the state’s largest comprehensive doctoral degree granting institution with Schools of Business, Dental Medicine, Engineering, Hospitality, Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health, among many others.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
This position requires a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school college or university as recognized by the United States Department of Education and/or the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), membership in a state bar with successful completion of a state bar examination, 1-3 years of experience, and 1-3 years of supervisory experience.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
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3-5 years of prior experience working at a law school, preferably in the context of a law school academic success program
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Prior experience in teaching or instruction
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3-5 years of supervisory experience
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Excellent project management skills
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A record of strong academic performance in law school
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Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
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Excellent written and oral communication skills
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Strong interpersonal skills
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A demonstrated commitment to public service
March 4, 2023 in Jobs - Descriptions & Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
We Do Not Stop Playing
We Do Not Stop Playing1
Another in our series of AASE 10th Anniversary posts! Thank you Kris Franklin!
Game
/ɡām/
noun
- a form of play or sport, especially a competitive one played according to rules and decided by skill, strength, or luck.
adjective
- eager or willing to do something new or challenging.
The first AASE conference was organized by an ad hoc committee of ASP professionals from around the country. We worked together to construct a conference representing an organization which did not yet exist. That meant we had no real requirements or guidelines, but also quite concretely that we had absolutely no resources. Nonetheless, the very first AASE conference in Las Vegas featured a hotel party in connecting hotel rooms with dozens of participants—seemingly more—playing board games together for hours. We could barely afford nametags, so what prompted us to spend maybe $100+ dollars to purchase candy and board games strewn around the hospitality suites we had negotiated for in our hotel and invite everyone at the conference to come and play?
In part this was an intentional nod to our longstanding history of fun and games at collegial gatherings (shoutout here to the team-building scavenger hunts at the St. Louis LSAC asp conference, and the jocular sit-in staged to protest its judging). There had also been a longstanding history of ASP folks using games in their teaching. Knot tying, Jeopardy, Taboo, Apples-to-Apples had all featured prominently in memorable presentations past by important figures in the founding of our discipline.
But the strains run deeper than mere surface callbacks.
ASP work can be about achievement, about equity, about (in)justice, about intellect, about ideas, yet in its soul it is always also about people. About building and celebrating a community of devoted educators. About getting to know one another, working in newfound teams, pushing each other to do our best, meeting each other’s families, seeing what made each other laugh and what made each other think. Crammed in those ridiculously overcrowded hotel rooms, we connected. We enfolded new members into already-existing friend groups. We reminded ourselves that amid the demands of our jobs we still needed to have fun. And fun often happened best together.
We were game. Eager to do something new. Or challenging.
Ten years on, we still are.
1. We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing. -Benjamin Franklin
March 1, 2023 | Permalink | Comments (0)