The search for the University's new Law School dean is drawing to a close, and search committee members expect to present two finalists to University administrators this month.
University Law School Prof. John Jeffries and Elizabeth Garrett, deputy dean of Academic Affairs at the University of Chicago, are the two candidates the search committee has narrowed down to be interviewed as finalists.
The search committee's hunt began after current Law School Dean Robert Scott announced his intention to step down after 10 years of service. The committee, chaired by Law School Prof. George Rutherglen, plans to conclude its search by the end of Scott's term July 1.
The committee can present up to three final candidates within the month to University President John T. Casteen III and Provost Peter W. Low, Rutherglen said. Casteen and Low will make the final selection.
"These two candidates were selected because each had an excellent academic background and a good reputation with both students and faculty," said Brendan Johnson, a third-year Law student and search committee member.
Rutherglen acknowledged that Jeffries and Garrett now are being considered as candidates but declined to comment on whether they are the committee's final selections.
"As of now, these are the only two," Johnson said.
The committee narrowed the original pool of 100 applicants from "peer law schools" down to 20 candidates to interview, he said.
After narrowing the field further, Law School students were given the opportunity to question Garrett, an Oklahoma native, in a student forum and other small group meetings, said Meredith Moss, a third-year Student Bar Association member.
Jeffries will meet with students sometime this week, but a date has not been set for a final committee vote on the two candidates , Johnson said.
"I am extremely impressed with [Garrett's] academic and professional achievement as well as her commitment to capitalize on the [Law School's] current growth potential," Moss said.
"She has a great ability to connect to students," Johnson added.
After graduating from the Law School in 1988, Garrett clerked for the Supreme Court, served as a legal advisor to the World Court and worked as an aid on Capitol Hill before taking a position at the University of Chicago Law School.
Jeffries graduated from the Law School in 1973, clerked at the Supreme Court and worked for a Washington firm for a year. He began teaching criminal law at the University's Law School in 1975.
Jeffries "has experience with the institution," Johnson said.
But the committee went "out of its way to make sure Beth [Garrett] was given a real shot at this," he said.
At the outset of the dean search, some students were concerned that the selection process would focus only on current University faculty without the opportunity for student input.
"I think, initially, student dissatisfaction was based on concerns that the process was not open to us as students," Moss said.
Both candidates have "excellent experience at the teaching and administrative levels, ... but it is impossible for me to draw a conclusion at this time," Johnson said.
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