McConnell a Law School Employee: 1 of 6 Candidates for Law Dean Post
Posted on: Saturday, 1 March 2008, 09:00 CST
By Lindsey Fleming, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Mar. 1--The fifth candidate for the WVU College of Law dean position is the only one employed at the school.
Joyce E. McConnell is associate dean for academic affairs at the university's law school and has had a long career there. She said she feels this gives her an advantage over the other candidates.
"Being here for 12 years, I think I better understand the state and the students," she said. "It's given me insight into how to move forward and what the [law school's] needs and responsibilities to the state are."
She also believes her experience teaching at three other schools has helped. She has taught at City University in New York, the University of Maryland and Georgetown University, in Washington D.C.
She came to WVU in 1995. After living in New Jersey for eight years, McConnell said, she and her husband were ready for a change.
"We had a young daughter at the time and everyone was so warm and friendly here," she said. "This is a great place to raise a family."
She said it is important that other people recognize the good attributes of the state and the law school that she has experienced.
"We've got to get the word out," she said.
McConnell said the law school is taking steps in the right direction by hiring a communications director this past year and holding a nationally publicized sports symposium, but she knows there's more to be done.
"It's important to build on what we've already accomplished," she said.
She wants to do this by having faculty contribute editorial pieces to newspapers around the country and starting an externship program that allows students to intern at places out of state.
Several of McConnell's students attended the reception held for her at the Waterfront Place Hotel on Thursday. The event, which has been held for each candidate, allows candidates to speak with students, faculty, alumni and administrators.
"Getting our name on the map on a national level, at least on a regional level, that's what's important to me," said Phillip Estep, a first-year student who has McConnell for a teacher.
He was there with a group of McConnell's students, including Haley Cook.
"She has a great personality and a good teaching style," Cook said.
While Cook likes McConnell, she also thinks that all the candidates have "amazing qualities."
Randy Minor, director of the law school's Appalachian Center for Law and Public Service, said he wants a new dean to expand the clinical programs offered at the law school.
"It's something that is important to me, and I know it's something that is important to Joyce," he said.
Minor said he and McConnell came to WVU's law school at around the same time and he supports her candidacy.
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Source: The Dominion Post (Morgantown, W.Va.)
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