NIU Law Announces Association of American Law Schools President to Serve as Its 2007 Commencement Speaker
April 18, 2007
DeKalb, Ill. – LeRoy Pernell, dean of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, is pleased to announce that Nancy H. Rogers, president of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), will serve as the NIU Law 2007 Commencement Speaker. The ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 26 at the NIU Convocation Center in DeKalb.
Rogers has served as a member of the AALS Executive Committee since 2001 and is currently president of the non-profit association, which is comprised of 168 law schools. The purpose of the association is "the improvement of the legal profession through legal education." It serves as the learned society for law teachers and is legal education's principal representative to the federal government and to other national higher education organizations and learned societies.
Rogers also serves as dean and Michael E. Morris Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution at The Ohio State University College of Law, where she began teaching in 1976. She also served in executive administrative positions prior to being named dean in 2001.
Rogers has taught and written primarily in the area of dispute resolution. She has co-authored two award-winning texts on mediation, as well as a leading law school textbook in dispute resolution, and many articles. At the college, Rogers helped students start the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution, which is now the official publication of the American Bar Association's Section on Dispute Resolution. She also coordinated efforts to build the college's Dispute Resolution Program, which now ranks third nationally among law school dispute resolution programs by U.S. News & World Report. Rogers also held a gubernatorial appointment as one of Ohio's five commissioners on the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws from 1998 to 2005, and was reporter for the Conference's Uniform Mediation Law.
In 1996, Rogers became the first faculty member to receive the College of Law Alumni Association's "Outstanding Professor Award." For her scholarly and public service contributions in the field, she received the Ohio State Bar Foundation's Ritter Award in 1998 for outstanding contributions to the administration of justice; the American Arbitration Association's Whitney North Seymour, Sr. Medal in 1990 for outstanding contributions in the dispute resolution field; the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution's Distinguished Service Recognition in 1990; and the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution's D'Alemberte-Raven Award in 2002 for outstanding achievements and contributions to the field of dispute resolution.
Rogers received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1972.
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The only public law school in the greater Chicago area, NIU Law has previously been ranked first in the nation for government placement, according to U.S. News and World Report. Nearly one-third of its graduates choose a career in public interest, including more than 50 alumni in the judiciary -- a remarkable accomplishment for a law school with less than 3,000 graduates. In honor of its commitment to public service, NIU Law received the 2001 Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service Award.
For more information, contact:
Melody Mitchell
Director, Alumni Events & Public Relations
(815) 753-9655