NYS Library to Host Book Talk on May it Please the Campus

May It Please the Campus: Lawyers Leading Higher Education Online

By the summer of 2023, the Presidents of six of New York City's colleges and universities will be lawyers - Barnard College, Cooper Union, Fordham, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York University, Queens College; with two successful lawyers presidents retiring from Columbia University and Hunter College. Dr. Patricia Salkin's new book, May it Please the Campus: Lawyers Leading Higher Education, provides an historical perspective on lawyers occupying the C-Suite in higher education, and she identifies and discusses the exponential increase across of the country of lawyers being selected to lead campuses. She predicts that by 2030, 10% of the sitting college and university presidents in the current decade will have been lawyers. Dr. Salkin will be interviewed by Dean Elena Langan, and they will discuss why lawyers have taken a new leadership role in higher education and what it may mean for the future. Patricia E. Salkin, J.D., Ph.D., is Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for the Graduate and Professional Divisions at Touro University. The author of May it Please the Campus: Lawyers Leading Higher Education (Touro University Press, 2022), Salkin has extensively studied the exponential increase in the number of lawyers being selected as college and university presidents and underlying reasons for this leadership shift. She is the former dean of the Touro University Jacob D. Fuschsberg Law Center, where she remains a member of the faculty and teaches land use and zoning law. She is the author of more than 100 books, articles, chapters and columns on land use law, government ethics, lawyer licensure reform and higher education leadership. Prior to joining Touro University in 2012, she was the Raymond & Ella Smith Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School where she also served as Associate Dean and Director of the Government Law Center. Elena B. Langan, J.D. serves as Dean and Professor of Law at Touro Law Center. Prior to her appointment at Touro Law, she served as the Dean of Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho and Interim Dean at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law in Fort Lauderdale Florida, where she also served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the first year lawyering skills and values program. At Concordia University, Dean Langan served as a member of the student success subcommittee of the President’s Advisory Council and was responsible for: creating, among other things, the 5th & Front Program, described as a place where law and social justice meet in service to the community; engaging in the strategic design and development of innovative JD and non-JD programs; and enhancing the reputation of the law school. Date:Tuesday, June 27, 2023Time:12:00pm - 1:00pmTime Zone:Eastern Time - US & Canada (change)Online:This is an online event. Event URL will be sent via registration email.

Begin Registration here - May It Please the Campus: Lawyers Leading Higher Education - OCE Events - OCE (libcal.com)

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Government Lawyers Continue to be Prime Candidates for College and University Presidencies

The latest issue of the Municipal Lawyer, published by the New York State Bar Association contains an article describing the pathways to the presidency by many former government lawyers. Some of these presidents were appointed after holding elected office (mostly at the state and federal levels), others were appointed following successful careers in federal, state and local government agencies. Oftentimes the higher profile former public officials had no higher education experience prior to their appointments, whereas many of the presidents had careers in legal education subsequent to their public service often following law school or early in their legal careers.

The article explores what it is about the skillset of government lawyers that makes them particularly attractive candidates for the campus C-suite. Knowing how government works is key, but the network of connections, the ability to navigate legislative and executive policy changes and the ability to find and secure public financial support are all important. However, so too is the ability to quickly problem-solve unplanned issues that arise almost daily. The art of negotiation, collaboration and critically analyzing both challenges and solutions are also in the toolbox of successful government lawyers - and needed for effective campus leaders. Many government lawyers have also had experience as fundraisers for campaigns - another critical skill for successful presidents.

The article can be accessed on p. 20 in the publication linked below:

Municipal Lawyer- Vol. 37 No.1 - New York State Bar Association (nysba.org)

University of Minnesota Selects attorney Jeff Ettinger, former CEO of Hormel as Interim President

The University of Minnesota Board of Regents has selected Jeff Ettinger, current chair of the Hormel Foundation Board of Directors, and former CEO of the Hormel Foods Corporation from 2005 to 2016, as its interim president to succeed attorney president Joan T.A. Gabel this summer. Ettinger is expected to serve as interim president for up to one year while the Board of Regents undertakes a national search for the U of M’s 18th president.

Ettinger was selected by the Board because they felt it was time for an outside perspective and they were attracted to his leadership in the corporate world. One Regent, Mary Davenport, said "I just think we're ready for a very different point of view that embraces the mission yet brings us something fresh and different that we can build on." The other candidates for the interim position were all seasoned academics, but Ettinger professed that, “he could help restore the U’s reputation with lawmakers and the general public following a year of heavily criticized decisions.”

Ettinger, who holds a law degree from UCLA, taught a course in agribusiness at the University. He served as a law clerk for the Hon. Arthur Alarcon on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals prior to his career in Corporate America. He then worked as Vice President and general counsel at Comar Marketing before joining Hormel as a corporate attorney. He moved up the ladder at Hormel serving as a senior attorney,-O-Foods, assistant treasurer, president of Jennie-O Foods and then Jennie-O Turkey Store, CEO of Jennie-O Turkey Store and the COO, VP, President and COO of Hormel.