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29 Emory L. J. 605 (1980)
The Five Roles of the Law School Dean: Leader, Manager, Energizer, Envoy, Intellectual

handle is hein.journals/emlj29 and id is 617 raw text is: THE FIVE ROLES OF THE LAW SCHOOL DEAN: LEADER, MANAGER, ENERGIZER, ENVOY, INTELLECTUAL by Jeffrey O'Connell* Thomas E. O'Connell** I. THE NECESSITY FOR REEVALUATING LAW SCHOOL DEANSHIPS The average tenure of law school deans today is about four years.1 Partial responsibility for this high turnover rate may be at- tributed to a failure to clearly identify and delineate the various roles a future dean must play. Clarifying the functions of the deca- nal role may aid both prospective deans in deciding whether they should accept deanships and incumbent deans in coping with the responsibilities of their position. Further, search committees would be helped in their quest for the right person if they had a better understanding of what the job entails. Although there is little literature on law school deaning, there is considerable literature on administration of higher education-es- pecially on the college or university presidency. Much material which is applicable and helpful to potential or incumbent law school deans may be culled from this general literature. To a unique extent a law school dean, among all academic administra- tors, is similar to a college president. A law school is a relatively autonomous, highly visible institution. Its dean, like a college pres- * Professor of Law, Member Center for Advanced Study, University of Virginia; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1951; J.D., Harvard University, 1954. Jeffrey O'Connell acknowledges his gratitude to the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. This manuscript was completed during his tenure as a Guggenheim Fellow, 1979-80. ** President, Bellevue Community College, Bellevue, Washington; B.A., Dartmouth College, 1950; M.P.A., Syracuse University, 1952; Ed. D., University of Massachusetts, 1975. The authors gratefully acknowledge the able research assistance of William Babich, University of Illinois College of Law, Class of 1981. ' Abramson & Moss, Law School Deans: A Self-Portrait, 29 J. or LEGAL EDUC. 6, 6 n.3 (1977). With regard to university presidents, Warren Bennis has asserted that the average tenure... is now 4.4 years and decreasing. W. BENNIS, THE LEANING IVORY TowER 144 (1973). This, however, has been refuted in other studies, see M. COHEN & J. MARCH, LEAD- ERSHIP AND AMBIGUITY-THE AMERIcAN COLLEGE PRESIDENT 153-65 (1979); M. FERRARI, PROFILES OF AhmucAN COLLEGE PRESIDENTS 90-91 (1970).