Law School Academic Support Blog

Trust

Yesterday, I came across a tweet from someone who must be either law school legal writing or clinical faculty where they pointed out that a school’s faculty might very well have an atmosphere of “cordial hypocrisy[1]” depending on how doctrinal (and I assume tenured) faculty treat their legal writing or clinical colleagues. Various sources define “cordial hypocrisy” as having a pleasant demeanor towards each other in a way that seems like trust, but actually having an underlying distrust[2]. It is a no-no in the world of leadership and team building.

As someone in ASP, I see this cordial hypocrisy every day. We can be trusted to get a lot of work done, ensure our students’ success, and create curriculum for numerous classes, but we are not always (institutions obviously vary) able to, for example, teach some doctrinal courses, enjoy tenure, or even be considered faculty in some cases. I find that doctrinal professors are (usually pleasantly) surprised about what we do (or can do) despite the billboards and parades we organize to tell them.

Last week, I was in a committee meeting where I advocated strongly for the inclusion of ASP (and career development) in a new, potentially required, course devoted to student wellness. I really believe that these topics go hand in hand. After I made my point (concisely, I promise) that ASP assistance is never required until things have gone terribly awry (which is why embedding ASP into a required class would be a great thing), the facilitator of the meeting asked if anyone else had anything to add who hadn’t yet spoken. I was dismissed. My point was deemed not even worthy of comment or response-I mean even Ariana Grande said, “thank u” before she went right on to “next.[3]”  Was this brush-off permitted because I was merely ASP faculty and had no leverage in that moment to rectify it? I should note that this is not a common occurrence at my school, I was honestly surprised. You could see me mouthing, “wow, really?” because I had politely muted myself after I spoke. I guess any “cordial hypocrisy” I had enjoyed up until then ended when I didn’t agree completely with the facilitator. It was a blatant and public kiss-off and it stung. A lot.

I deserved better. We in ASP deserve better. We deserve respect, job security, and recognition for all we do. We deserve the time it takes for other members of the faculty to learn about what we do. We deserve to be as genuinely trusted by our colleagues as we are by our students.

And ASP surely deserved to be listed in that tweet.[4]

(Liz Stillman)

[1] Term attributed to Charles Feltman from: https://insightcoaching.com/trust_book/

[2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trust-the-new-workplace-currency/201702/why-effective-leaders-dont-confuse-loyalty-trust

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl1aHhXnN1k

[4] I did tweet a reply that said we should not overlook ASP faculty, and the poster agreed.

True Education

On this (very rainy in Massachusetts) Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we as law educators need to remember that every fight for civil rights was only a fight because there were lawyers on the side of denying civil rights. The people advocating for denying rights were trained lawyers who had been to law school (or the equivalent in some states) and were admitted to the bar to practice law. They had been taught basically the same subjects we teach students today. As we educate this new generation of lawyers, we need to be sure to remind them that lawyers, above all, should seek justice (which is not the same as law) and truth (again, not the same as law). Law is just a tool we can use to walk these paths.

Martin Luther King noted that, “[t]he function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” Nelson Mandela added that, “[e]ducation is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The same way a construction worker, a surgeon, or a Jedi knight would be carefully trained to use equipment safely, we need to make sure our students know the consequences of unsafely operating the tools we are giving them -- as much as they know how to use the power.

As we start our new semester tomorrow, and while I am still reeling about the events in a Texas Synagogue this weekend, I renew my vow to engage in true education. Lawyers have an almost sacred relationship with truth and justice that should not be dismissed or forsaken. We need to teach our children well that, “[i]njustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." (Martin Luther King, Jr., 1963).

Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Boston Common in 1965-also in the rain.

(Liz Stillman)

South Florida Regional ASP Call for Proposals

The Second Annual South Florida Regional ASP Conference is scheduled for Friday, January 28, 2022, at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law, it will be held virtually. Please save the date.  Conference registration will be sent out in early January.

They are calling for proposals for the program, which will have two tracks.

Track One: The focus is on “Innovative Academic Support Programs for 1L Students.”  What unique programs have you created to help 1L students begin their law school career?  Your program could involve a pre-Orientation course,  the fall semester, the winter/spring semester, a collaborative program you developed with faculty colleagues, or a special program that you have created to focus on developing specific skills for 1Ls. The idea is to showcase your innovations that help 1L students!

Track Two: “Effective Use of Technology Tools for Academic Support.”  This can include technology aimed at all law students (1L, 2L, 3L and part-time) and/or bar takers, and could include, for instance, the following categories:

1. Show and Tell:  “How to” use technology such as apps, learning management systems, or other tech tools.
2. Content:  Course assignments, assessments, videos, and similar tools that use technology to deliver content to your students.
3. Bar Exam Prep: Technological Apps or Programs you provide to supplement the commercial bar courses.
4. Brainstorming Session: If you want to host a brainstorming session that is technology-focused and interactive, you can put that program together for the conference.

Proposals:  Please send your proposals to:  Elena Rose Minicucci at: [email protected] on or before Friday, January 7, 2022.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or Assistant Dean Susan Landrum at [email protected]

Articulation

Today is International Tongue Twister Day (I am not making this up just for blog content, I promise).[1] A tongue twister is defined as, “a word, phrase, or sentence difficult to articulate because of a succession of similar consonantal sounds.” [2] I would submit that all the different roles we play in academic support are difficult to articulate as well.

Like many codified rules in the United States, the term “Academic Support” is vague. How can we define what we do? We help students access the curriculum in law school but that is still vague. We conduct orientation classes. We teach students how to prepare and study in their doctrinal classes. We help students prepare for midterm and final exams-and then the Bar exam. We help students with legal writing projects. We offer counseling that borders on therapy. We listen, we plan, we give feedback, we lend books and shoulders and pens. We offer candy and tissues and respite. We also learn from and help one another as professionals. I once helped a student pick out bridesmaid dresses. We are something different to every student we work with (a friend, a mentor, a nag, a chocolate supplier….).

Our support is seamless mainly because there is no clear beginning or end to what we do that can be stitched together. And, sometimes, what we do is both important and invisible. We are not quite the same as other faculty members in ways that are obvious and some that slip below the radar.

So, on this Monday of the week that Bar results will be released here in Massachusetts and other states nearby, I offer this tongue twister to remember what the folks in Academic Support do:

Academic Support professors profess to assist pre-professionals become professionals using practices that produce prosperity.

Say it 5 times fast and have a particularly pleasant day!

(Liz Stillman)

 

[1] https://www.punchbowl.com/holidays/international-tongue-twister-day

[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tongue%20twister

NECASP Request for Proposals

Request for Proposals: Presentations and Scholarly “Works in Progress”

New England Consortium of Academic Support Professionals (NECASP) Conference December 10, 2021, 10am-3pm ET via Zoom

Hosted by the University of Massachusetts School of Law – Dartmouth (Zoom link to follow)

NECASP will be holding its annual one-day conference online this December. Our topic this year
is “Fostering and Maintaining Inclusive Communities.” We will gather online to share and explore ideas with ASP colleagues on issues surrounding the expansive role of ASP in promoting diversity and inclusion that includes, inter alia, retention efforts, designing embedded programming that creates inclusive communities, programming for various socio-economic backgrounds, bar support for diverse student bodies, and fostering diversity in different regional locations. We welcome a broad range of proposals – from presenters in the New England Region and beyond – and at various stages of completion – from idea to fruition. Please note that we may ask you to co-present with other ASP

colleagues depending on the number of proposals selected. If you wish to present, the proposal process is as follows:

1. Submit your proposal by November 1, 2021, via email to Amy Vaughan-Thomas at [email protected]

2. Proposals may be submitted as a Word document or as a PDF

3. Proposals must include the following:

   1. Name and title of presenter

   2. Law School

   3. Address, email address, and telephone number for presenter

   4. Title

   5. If a scholarly work in progress, an abstract no more than 500 words

   6. Media or computer presentation needs

 

If you have any questions about your proposal, please do not hesitate to contact one of us, and we look forward to seeing you at our conference!

Gestalt

I was a social psychology major as an undergraduate and I remember studying the psychological theory of gestalt, which is defined as “something that is made of many parts and yet is somehow more than or different from the combination of its parts.”[1] Basically, if I had known about outlining back in those days, I would have written the rule as: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. As bar exam results trickle in from parts near and far, I think it worth revisiting this idea with both students and colleagues.

To students who have passed the bar, I would say, “Wonderful! Remember, there is more to you than this one credential. As an attorney, you will bring your whole self to the table and that will always be more than the sum of your parts.” To the students who have not passed the bar this time, I might say the same thing. I do not want to be dismissive of how meaningful this one credential is for them after a three (or four) year journey that has already been fraught with confidence crushing moments. I don’t want to toss out, “oh well, maybe next time” either because right now, I think these students may see “next time” as a craggy mountain to climb without any safety gear in truly inclement weather.  I also know that social media means that students will know about their classmates’ successes almost immediately and silence will be interpreted as failure. Literally. There really is no good answer other than “I’m sorry. How are you doing?”

I also worry about my colleagues who have poured every ounce of what they have into students to help them pass the bar (regardless of whether the students were willing vessels or not) and now have someone else’s success or failure be determinative of their worth. Is this how we value professionals?

When a football team loses a game, media outlets tend to blame everyone on the team-not just the quarterback or coaches, but the team as a whole: offense, defense, big guys, little guys. Even when one player makes an egregious error, the sportscasters tend to find additional reasons for the loss-even the weather or altitude can be roped in. When the team wins, the press is similarly wide in praise, as seen here by today’s Boston Globe after the Patriots won a home game yesterday, “[e]veryone went home happy Sunday. Mac Jones got his first 300-yard game and hit a 46-yard deep ball. Damien Harris rushed for 100 yards. Eleven players made a catch, and five different players got in the end zone. The defense created two interceptions…Smiles all around.”[2] And remember, these guys probably each get paid more than all the ASP folks at a regional conference combined.

So, when bar results are good, ASP folks are part of the overall winning team with smiles all around. But when bar results are not what we are hoping for, why do our ASP colleagues not get the same level of camaraderie? Why aren’t we always a team at that moment also? ASP folks, and particularly those who do bar exclusively, need to be given the grace of gestalt. So I say to you, regardless of the bar results at your school, you are more than the sum of your parts. As an ASP professional, you bring your whole self to the table and you are mighty.  

Judging someone’s competency or job security based on the performance of other people at a task that is not entirely knowable is something that is far above our pay grade.

(Liz Stillman)

 

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gestalt

[2] https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/10/24/sports/who-cares-that-its-jets-patriots-needed-this-ego-boost/

WCCASP Registration

Southwestern Law School is pleased to host the 2021 West Coast Consortium of Academic Support Professionals (WCCASP) Conference on Friday, Nov. 5th, 2021 from 10:00am-5:00pm PST. The conference will be held virtually, via Zoom. Conference registration is NOW OPEN! You can register for this free conference here. WCCASP 2021 Registration

Now in its 10th year, the WCCASP Conference provides a thought-provoking and stimulating forum for academic and bar support educators of all experience levels to share practical ideas and best practices that advance teaching and learning.  This year’s theme is “Success in the New Norm: Academic and Bar Support Edition,” and we have assembled thoughtful and targeted presentations from educators throughout the country to share their expertise in bar prep and academic support in our new environment.

Making Connections

A few years ago, our new Dean brought the leaders of each department together for a retreat to prepare for the upcoming year.  The Dean planned the retreat with activities to both get to know each other and create goals for the upcoming year.  The retreat was a resounding success.  One of the biggest successes from the event was the connections we made with each other.  Every business deals with interpersonal dynamics and requests for the limited resources.  I feel like coming together for a couple days helped the leaders of our school understand each other more and helped us work with each other for common goals even though resources are limited.

I believe the same type of connections could help ASPers in 2 ways.  We could use similar activities to connect with faculty.  The divide between tenure-track and contract faculty/staff seems pervasive throughout law school discourse.  ASPers complain at every turn that doctrinal faculty aren't using the most up-to-date teaching methods.  Doctrinal faculty think ASPers just hand-hold a new generation of entitled students.  ASPers respond that some hand-holding is necessary when jobs are tied to bar results.  The non-stop complaining creates a layer of animosity throughout law schools.

The animosity isn't inevitable.  We can break the cycle.  Other than a few outliers, I believe most faculty (doctrinal and ASP) and staff want students to succeed.  Schools probably can't hold large gatherings safely, but we can all have a small meal or zoom meeting with another member of the law school.  The meal or meeting doesn't need to be about work.  Connections related to interests and family can begin a conversation that leads to discussing helping students inside and outside the classroom.  The discussions can lay the interpersonal foundation to then create dialogue on how to help students.  

We can use the same strategy with students.  In smaller classes, I begin every semester with an introduction and one unique thing about myself.  Students introduce themselves and give their unique thing.  I try to include anecdotes and stories in all my lectures that relate to my interests.  Someone after each of my classes will ask about my kids sports or the recent football games.  I use the information to ask students questions when in the hallway.  When students know we care about them as people, they are more likely to follow our studying advice.  We can go to student organization meetings, take class time, or attend campus events to make connections.  The connections may be as valuable as one of the lessons in class.

Working with faculty and students requires navigating many interpersonal and campus dynamic issues.  We can't solve all of them with a meal, but genuine conversation can go a long way to helping everyone achieve success.

(Steven Foster)

WCCASP Call for Proposals

AASE Diversity Conference Call for Proposals

Drawing on the spirit of the late Congressman John Lewis and the origins of academic support, the 2021 Association of Academic Support Educators Bi-Annual Diversity Conference will bring together colleagues committed to the intersection of diversity, equity, inclusion, status, legal education, and academic support. In this collegial and collaborative environment, colleagues will have an opportunity to meet, reconnect, and share ideas surrounding pedagogy, scholarship, and professional growth.

The mission of the AASE Diversity Committee is to work collaboratively to advocate for and support diversity in law schools, to encourage academic support programs to engage in practices that promote and support diversity, to promote the recruitment and retention of diverse academic support professionals, and to provide resources that enhance knowledge and encourage understanding of diversity. The Committee honors ASP's traditional role in supporting racial diversity in law schools and endorses a broad definition of diversity, that includes but is not limited to race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, national origin, ethnicity, physical or mental disability, and socio-economic status.

The diversity committee welcomes proposals on diversity and inclusion related topics that are relevant to legal education and academic support. The committee seeks proposals that describe the presentation and its goals in detail. Our assumption is that a clear and detailed proposal today will lead to a stronger presentation at the conference.

Proposals should be submitted via e-mail to Haley Meade, host chair, at [email protected] The diversity committee will only evaluate proposals submitted through this method.

WCCASP Save the Date

Canary in a Coal Mine

It was fall 1980-something and I had just purchased an album that I was certain was going to change my world (spoiler: it did a little): Zenyatta Mondatta by The Police. I felt very hip catching the reference to Lolita in Don’t Stand So Close to Me and hummed Do do do do all around J.H.S. 141[1] where, sadly, none of my teachers reminded me of Sting. But there was another catchy little song on that album that was an earworm for us: Canary in a Coal Mine. In the song, someone is accused of being so overly cautious that they are not really living their life in a meaningful way. It was a song in favor of YOLO before YOLO was a thing. But if you were a canary living in a coal mine, you were being the opposite of cautious-you were essentially putting yourself on the line to be a warning to others coming after you.

In reality, until 1986, canaries were used to detect the presence of carbon monoxide (or other toxic gasses) in coal mines[2]. The idea was that because canaries were sensitive to airborne toxins, if the canary got sick or died then the miners knew to vacate immediately. While the carbon monoxide detector in my house isn’t nearly as cute, it also doesn’t need to die to let me know if trouble is brewing.

I think I know how the (real, not song) canary felt.  Last week, I taught in-person (everyone masked) in a room with about 100 people for hours of orientation. I also oriented a smaller group of students in an equally full and smaller room for a bunch more hours between those sessions. Each room was at its intended pre-pandemic capacity. The second room had been the COVID testing site in our building last year. Everyone in both rooms had been cleared as vaccinated or having a good reason why they were not. And yet, I was, and am, frightened that I may have been the canary in the coal mine.

As Academic Support professionals, at least at my school, we are the first line of academic related teaching most students encounter. We teach the court system, case briefing, reading, IRAC and a host of other things before classes begin and even do an early assessment to see students’ baselines when they come to law school. Doctrinal professors and legal writing faculty do not usually teach during orientation. So, if anything was going to go wrong in the midst of this new surge in COVID, ASP faculty[3] would be the harbingers of that bad news.

Here’s the rub though, ASP faculty tend to be non-tenured, non-tenure track and at best, may have presumptively renewable contracts. We are more often women. We have no power to turn down this orientation assignment-we do not volunteer as tribute, we are scheduled to be there. Don’t get me wrong: I do not, for even a minute, think that my institution was intentionally using us as canaries and perhaps the power dynamic is more nuanced than I see it, but I just felt we had no real power to refuse without some consequences to our job security. Everyone else standing in front of the crowd had a different status than we did. They were not asking academic support faculty to do anything they weren’t willing to do themselves. They are compensated accordingly.

In all honestly, I’m not even sure I would have refused given the option, because it was exhilarating teaching in person to a big crowd again. Even masked, the energy of live teaching is irrefutable. It was  liberating to use my whole body to teach. Truly. Yet, today, six days later, I am wishing that the testing room was still open, not because I don’t feel well, but because I would like to be officially told that I am well. I wish (gratuitous Police reference) people had not stood so close to me.

The fact that canaries were used in coal mines until 1986 was surprising to me-I was almost certain that the practice had died out at least a hundred years before that, but I am pretty sure that if mining companies had caged miners and used them as a warning system for toxic gasses back in the day, mine safety would have been far better, far sooner.

(Liz Stillman)

 

[1] New York City elementary and middle schools have numbers, not names. Yes, my kids think that is hilarious.

[2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/story-real-canary-coal-mine-180961570/.

[3] And our amazing Deans and Associate Deans.

Call for Proposals from AALS Section on Academic Support

CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS

For a Joint Presentation by the
AALS Section on Academic Support and Section on Technology, Law, and Education

“Online Teaching: Is it good for legal education? Which professors are doing it? And who owns the content once it is created?”
(Working Title/Theme Subject to Change)

Program Description
The theme for the AALS 2022 Annual Meeting is “Freedom, Equality, and the Common Good.” We seek to explore these topics as they relate to the intersection of academic support and distance legal education. First, we hope to explore whether distance legal education (a.k.a. online teaching) serves the Common Good in legal education. In other words, does technology help or hurt legal education? Next, we plan to pivot to the question of Equality. Are all faculty equally expected to contribute to courses dealing with technology and are faculty compensated adequately (whether time and/or money) for their time in developing asynchronous content? Finally, the presentation will conclude with a discussion of Academic Freedom. Most notably, who owns the work?

Some ideas with these themes may include, but are not limited to:

Common Good
• Did the rise of Zoom Law during a worldwide pandemic help or hurt the development of online teaching?
• Is tech a legitimate delivery method?
• How to overcome the argument regarding lack of engagement?
• Is there a specific type of course that is better suited to be online, and conversely, courses that should never be taught online?
• Which types of technology most effectively maximize student learning and help develop skills?

Equality
• Within a law school, who typically creates and teaches online courses?
• Are certain technology focused courses like E-discovery taught by certain types of faculty?
• What type of courses should be taught online?
• Who is using technology in the classroom?
• Are all technologies really equal or do certain types of technology provide more effective tools for learners than others?

Academic Freedom
• Who owns the work?
• Does your university have a policy regarding the creation and retention of asynchronous courses?
• What happens to an already prepared online course when a professor leaves the institution, or even dies?
• Will the rise of “canned” online courses lead to faculty teaching themselves out of a job?

The Section on Technology, Law, and Education and the Section on Academic Support seek to explore these questions and related issues at the January 2022 AALS Annual (virtual)

Meeting during their joint program.

Call for Presenters

Proposals should contain a detailed explanation of both the substance of the presentation and the methods to be employed. Individuals as well as groups are invited to propose topics. The Committee would prefer to highlight talent across a spectrum of law schools and disciplines and is especially interested in new and innovative ideas. Please share this call with colleagues—both within and outside of the legal academy and the academic support community.

Submission Guidelines

Proposals must include the following information:
• A title for your presentation.
• A brief description of the objectives or outcomes of your presentation.
• A brief description of how your presentation will support your stated objectives or outcomes.
• The amount of time requested for your presentation. No single presenter should exceed 45 minutes in total. Presentations as short as 15 minutes are welcomed.
• A detailed description of both the substantive content and the techniques to be employed, if any, to engage the audience.
• Whether you plan to distribute handouts, use PowerPoint, or employ other technology.
• A list of the conferences at which you have presented within the last three years, such as AALS, AASE, or other academic conferences. (The Committee is interested in this information because we wish to select and showcase seasoned, as well as fresh, talent.)
• Your school affiliation, title, courses taught, and contact information (please include email address and telephone number).
• Any articles or books that you have published that relate to your proposed presentation.
• Any other information you think will help the Committee appreciate the value your presentation will provide.

Please submit your proposal to the Academic Support Programming Chair, Kirsha Trychta, at [email protected] by June 30, 2021. The Committee anticipates notifying those who have been selected to present on/around July 14, 2021.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact one of the Programming Co-Chairs: Natalie Rodriguez at [email protected], Kirsha Weyandt Trychta at [email protected], or Michelle Zakarin at [email protected]

Virtual Book Conference

You are invited to a virtual book conference—Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom—on July 22, 2021 from 11 am EDT to 5:30 pm. You can register for the conference here: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=y6oeipdab&oeidk=a07ehz3lyg07d8392cb. You can read more about the book here. 

The abrupt move to online legal education in Spring 2020 accelerated the move to online legal education that has been slowing gathering steam in recent years. As more institutions consider the potential to expand their reach with online courses and programs, law professors must move past “pandemic teaching” and seriously consider how they can create and deliver quality legal education online. Law Teaching Strategies for a New Era: Beyond the Physical Classroom, the first comprehensive book on online legal education, explores techniques, tools, and strategies that can assist all types of law professors in that endeavor.  

The conference will feature five panels that explore the future of the legal profession and offer practical tips on creating effective online courses: 

• Panel 1—The Future of Law Practice:  Moderated by noted legal blogger David Lat, this panel will feature practitioners and judges discussing the future of virtual law practice.
• Panel 2—Becoming the Law School of the Future:  This panel will discuss how law schools can prepare for long-term online learning.
• Panel 3—Designing the Law Courses of the Future: This panel will offer attendees practical tips for designing courses for online delivery.
• Panel 4—The 1L & Doctrinal Curriculum in a New Era: This panel will offer tips from professors who successfully converted their 1L and large doctrinal classes to an online platform.
• Panel 5—The Upper-level Curriculum in a New Era:  This panel will offer tips from professors who successfully converted their experiential classes to an online platform.

Please feel free to reach out to Tessa Dysart ([email protected]) or Tracy Norton ([email protected]) with any questions! 

AASE Seeking Award Nominations

AASE will once again provide awards to acknowledge excellence in the academic support field at the annual conference.  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 2021 Awards committee, DeShun Harris, Twinette Johnson, and Antonia Miceli (chair), are soliciting nominations for contributions by individuals, or in appropriate circumstances, groups, in any of the following areas:

1. Specific ideas or innovations—whether disseminated through academic writing, newsletters, conference presentations or over the listserv
2. Specific services to the profession—e.g., advocacy with the NCBE, etc.
3. Providing services to students
4. Promoting diversity in  the profession and expanding access to the legal profession
5. 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 Antonia Miceli by Monday, May 3, 2021.

Registration Open for AASE!

American University Washington College of Law is pleased to host the 2021 AASE conference beginning Tuesday, May 25^th – Thursday, May 27^th from 12:00pm-5:00pm EST. Conference registration is NOW OPEN! You can register for the conference here. Conference fee is $25. https://associationofacademicsupporteducators.org/events/2021-aaseconference/

We are excited to virtually bring you plenary and conference presentations on mental wellness, post-COVID academic and bar success best practices, diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices and much more. In addition, join us for “after hours” social gatherings for fun and exciting opportunities to reconnect with colleagues. Stay tuned for more information on these “after hours” activities.

 

Complete the AASE Survey before Wednesday

Members of the Association of Academic Support Educators,

Please complete the AASE 2021 Short Survey before April 7^th. A link was sent out on March 25^th. Search your inbox for an email from AASE Membership. A reminder email should follow shortly. If you cannot locate the link, please email me or Goldie Pritchard.

The AASE Assessment Committee compiled this short nationwide survey to supplement the longer survey conducted by AASE in 2018. This short survey (maximum 20 minutes if all sections of the survey apply to your school) compiles the following:

1. general data about each law school,
2. information about the content of academic success programs and workshops,
3. information about the content of bar prep programs and workshops, as well as,
4. salary and status data.

To ensure that all teaching philosophies and that all job statuses and salaries are captured, the committee recommends that each non-clerical faculty and/or staff member within the academic success community complete the AASE 2021 Short Survey. Only the general data about each law school would be duplicative.

Further, since the AASE Assessment Committee exists to support and promote the assessment of programmatic effectiveness within AASE, the committee looks forward to compiling the data and presenting the results at the annual AASE Conference in May. If you have any questions regarding the survey, please contact me at [email protected] or board member, Goldie Pritchard at [email protected].

Special thanks to my fellow committee members, Matthew Carluzzo, Jeanna Hunter, Diane Kraft, Dyann Margolis, Chenay Weyble, and our board liaison, Jodi Wiredu, for their valuable insights and tireless energy developing this survey. This truly was a team effort and it was an honor to work with all of them!

Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey!

All the best,

Anne G. Johnson

AASE Assessment Committee Chair

Adjunct Professor of Law

Assistant Director of Academic Success

Mercer University School of Law

1021 Georgia Ave., Macon, GA 31207
T: 478-301-5030
[email protected]| law.mercer.edu

AASE Presentation Proposals Due at Midnight on March 15

 The 8th AASE National Conference, which will be held virtually May 25-27, 2021.

American University Washington College of Law is our gracious host.

In addition to happily welcoming submissions on the “usual” range of topics that help us all so much in a “normal” year – Diversity, Mental Health, Bar Prep, Academic Success, etc. – we are also seeking submissions that address what our work will look like in a post-COVID world, including what we’ve learned in our new, Zoom-centric universe.

Submit your presentation proposals here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1FDuSoNFI8qffI1SaTja3bbspkXUAlWgpTRIe24RoLC4/edit

We will be accepting proposals until midnight on March 15, 2021.  Thank you!

Associate Professor of Law for Academic Success at Southwestern Law School

SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL
ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND BAR PREPARATION
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LAW

Southwestern Law School invites applicants for an associate professor position for administration, counseling and teaching in the Academic Success and Bar Preparation Office to commence immediately. In this position, the chosen applicant will work closely with Assistant Dean for Academic Success, Natalie Rodriguez and Assistant Dean for Bar Preparation, Mary Basick primarily in the creation, administration, implementation and teaching of programs and courses as part of the academic support and bar preparation course curriculum.
Duties and responsibilities may include but are not limited to any of the following:

-Working with the Faculty of Academic Success and Bar Preparation Office to research, design, implement and manage academic and bar support programs, including pre-matriculation programs, first-year programs and pre and post-graduation bar preparation programs
-Teaching in the academic and bar support programs and courses
-Meeting with students individually and in small groups regarding academic and bar performance issues. This includes identifying and/or creating additional materials that would support a student’s individualized academic or bar improvement plan.
-Supervising student teaching and research assistants
-Assisting with additional services to enhance the academic and bar success of students
-Identify additional opportunities to support or enhance the Office’s offerings and/or developing materials

Required Qualifications:
-J.D. from an ABA accredited law school
-Bar admission, admission to the California Bar preferred
-Experience in academic support and bar preparation preferred. Other teaching experience such as legal writing instruction will be considered
-Ability to work with a variety of people from diverse backgrounds, including students, staff and faculty
-Ability to counsel, critique and guide students to self-improvement through a professional, rigorous, respectful, supportive and reliable commitment to them, including creating individualized materials
-Ability to work as part of a collaborative team of faculty in the Academic Success and Bar Preparation Office while having the ability to be a self-starter and self-manage individual work product
-Availability to teach and/or meet with students in the evening and occasional weekend, especially during bar preparation seasons
-Imagination, innovation and desire to grow into responsibilities in areas of mutual interest and need
-Understanding of, and ability to work for, the mission and goals of Southwestern Law School
-Professionalism and ability to work with confidential information

This is a full-time, year-round position with faculty voting rights. The salary is competitive. The successful applicant will also receive a competitive benefits package provided by Southwestern Law School.
Applicants should submit the following:
-A one page statement describing (a) prior teaching experience; (b) other relevant experience; and (c) aspirations for future legal education work
-A resume
-Contact information for three professional references

Applications should be addressed to Assistant Dean Natalie Rodriguez and Assistant Dean Mary Basick and emailed to [email protected]

NECASP Call for Proposals

The New England Consortium of Academic Support Professionals (NECASP) will be holding its annual conference virtually on March 26, 2021 at 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM EST. They are currently seeking presentation proposals from our larger community for this conference! 

This year's conference theme is "'A Year in the Life:' Delivering ASP and Bar Support in our Ever Evolving Circumstances." It's hard to believe we have been remote for about a year now, and this conference will be centered on what worked, what didn't, and any related topic regarding this new normal. 

Please submit a proposal by February 26. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact [email protected].