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=Husson Appoints New Dean Of Graduate Studies=

By: Robert Nesbitt robbie_nesbitt@hotmail.com
 * BANGOR** -Earlier last month, Husson found out that the law school it had been trying for the last three years to put into action would no longer be under way. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, for the second time, unanimously turned down the university’s request to allow graduates of its proposed law school to take the Maine bar exam. This ruling was due to the fact that The American Bar Association requires law schools to have a tenure track for its professors. Something that Husson did away with 15 years ago.

Since then Husson has appointed Michael Mullane, who was appointed to be the Dean of the Law School, with the position to serve as Dean of Graduate Studies. “The President decided that they needed a dean that would focus on improving the educational experience for the students in the graduate program,” said Mullane. “And also improve the experience for the faculty teaching in graduate programs.” There are a number of things that Mullane plans to do with his new position. His main focus for next fall will be to improve scholarship at Husson. By that he would like to define what scholarship means for students, and assess the value and quality of scholarships here on campus. Mullane has found that students would benefit greatly with a graduate degree and that several job opportunities could possibly require graduate degrees from its employees in the future. “One of the most rapid areas of job growth is going to be in jobs requiring a graduate degree just to get into the door for an entry level position,” said Mullane. That’s including 18 percent more jobs that require a masters degree to start, and an additional 17 percent of jobs that require a doctorate to start.” Two other faculty members who were affected by the supreme courts decision to turn down Husson’s request for a law school included Peter Murray and Judy Potter. Before the Maine Court made its decision Murray released a person statement on how excited he was to be a part of the proposed law program at Husson. “It is very exciting for me to be a part of the creation of the Husson University Law School and to work with outstanding colleagues to create this challenging program. I look forward to teaching Civil Procedure to the first class of Husson University Law School students in the fall of 2010.” According to Mullane, Murray’s and Potter’s contracts have not been renewed for the Fall 2010, Spring 2011 school year. Neither were available for comment.