Kathryn R.L. Rand Named Dean of Law School

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

8-2011

Campus Unit

School of Law

Abstract

After a national search, University of North Dakota Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Paul LeBel has named Kathryn R.L. Rand Dean of the UND School of Law. With her appointment, Rand becomes the 16th Dean to serve during UND Law School’s 112-year history and is the first woman to serve in the permanent position. Rand succeeds LeBel, who served as Dean before becoming Provost.

“I am very pleased that Interim Dean Kathryn Rand has accepted our offer to serve as Dean of the School of Law on a permanent basis. Dean Rand has more than seven years of experience in the administration of the School of Law, initially as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, then as Acting Dean, and most recently as Interim Dean. Her vision of a constantly improving law school is compelling, ambitious, and realistic. She has played a key role in the recruitment of outstanding faculty to the law school, and has made helpful organizational changes within the administration. Throughout those years, she has modeled the behavior that we all should display. She is genuinely concerned about the well-being of others. She consistently demonstrates the highest level of integrity and a commitment to working effectively and inclusively with all constituencies to advance the law school. During her time as Acting and Interim Dean, her work with her dean colleagues on campus has had a positive effect on the academic leadership on our campus. The law school is in very capable hands, and its future could not be brighter,” said LeBel.

She will assume the permanent appointment on July 1, 2011 after serving as interim dean for the past two years. “The UND School of Law is a very special place, and I am excited to continue to partner with our impressive students, talented and hardworking faculty and staff, and dedicated alumni and friends,” said Rand. “Together, we will work to enhance every aspect of the law school, including our educational programs, physical facility, and national reputation, while adhering to the values of our profession, our University and our state.”

UND Law School Assistant Dean for Student Life, Jeanne McLean said, “I am very pleased with the announcement of Kathryn as our new dean, and I am excited to go forward with her vision for the law school. I have worked with Kathryn for 10 years, and as an alumna of this school, I feel very confident about not only her commitment to the school but to our alumni and members of the North Dakota bench and bar.”

Rand is recognized as a leading scholar in the nation in the area of Indian gaming law, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute. She has co-authored three books and helped establish and is co-director of the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy, a component of the Northern Plains Indian Law Center at the University of North Dakota School of Law. The Institute is the first university-affiliated research institute dedicated to the study of Indian gaming.

In 1993, Rand received her J.D. degree (cum laude) from the University of Michigan Law School. Following law school, she clerked for Justice Beryl Levine of the North Dakota Supreme Court and Chief Judge J.P. Stadtmueller of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. She then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where she prosecuted drug and violent crime and served as a tribal liaison to the Menominee Nation.

Her many connections to North Dakota and UND brought her back to Grand Forks 11 years ago. Rand is a native of East Grand Forks, MN and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota in 1990. Her grandfather, Al Rand, is a 1921 UND Law School graduate. She returned to UND in 2000 to join the law school faculty, and in 2004 was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before assuming the interim dean position in 2009.

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