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Publication Date

2016

Abstract

As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Georgia Law Review at the University of Georgia, I pause to consider the impact that my legal scholarship and training have made on my long career in higher education. Following six years as an Assistant United States Attorney and twelve years as a faculty member, I accepted my first position in administration at UGA as Acting Executive Director of Legal Affairs in 1998. This transition from the faculty to administration proved to be a seminal moment in my career. I would go on to serve in a number of other senior administrative roles, with increasing levels of responsibility at UGA, until becoming President of the institution in 2013. In my early years as an academic administrator, I first came to see the value of legal scholarship and training related to effective leadership in higher education. I vividly recall a meeting involving a number of senior university administrators who were convened to discuss a controversial issue. It was not the resolution but rather the nature of the discussion that made an impression on me that day. I was joined in the meeting by a colleague who also had a background in law. I was struck by the similarity in the rhetorical approaches to our arguments: we both presented our positions on the issues in a detached, logical, and reasoned manner-a sign, indeed, of the legal education we held in common.

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