Times of change: UM law school dean announces plans to retire as new building takes shape
By BETSY COHEN of the Missoulian
These are busy days for the University of Montana School of Law.
Construction workers are steadily working toward completion of the school's $13 million addition and expansion - which means fall semester law school classes will be farmed out to six different buildings across campus.
Navigating the upheaval began Wednesday, when faculty welcomed UM first-year law students with a convocation ceremony and a talk by Montana Supreme Court Justice Brian Morris.
The ceremony called for formal wear - the hooded robes each faculty member wears that represent their degree and the college from which they graduated - but those prestigious garments are sealed away in part of the Law School undergoing asbestos abatement, said Elaine Gagliardi, the school's associate dean.
University of Montana law school Dean Ed Eck introduces the faculty to first-year law school students for the last time Wednesday morning at the school. Eck is retiring after 14 years as dean. Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian
Adding to the hustle and bustle is a new, but not surprising announcement: Law School Dean Ed Eck will retire on June 30.
Eck, who has been dean for the past 14 years, said he chose to step down at the same time the biggest item on his administrative to-do list is done.
“By next summer 2009, when I plan to retire as dean, the building, which has been the project I've worked the hardest on in recent years, should be completed,” Eck said. “I see that as a good time to leave.”
The announcement sets in motion a national search for Eck's replacement, said UM Provost Royce Engstrom.
Eck will spend his last year at the school's helm raising funds for technology and equipment, guiding the curriculum and staff, and helping the law school through its accreditation process with the American Bar Association.
When those final tasks are complete, Eck looks forward to spending more time serving out his U.S. Senate appointment on the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board, a position he was asked to serve in June. In 2010, Eck plans to return to the law school to teach.
“Change is always good and I'm looking forward to spending time on the IRS board,” Eck said. “I find it fascinating to work with the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and I look forward to teach again.”
“As dean, a lot of my time with students has been limited to governance and to intellectual development or learning new ideas,” he said. “I think that will be fun. I'm looking forward to that - no question about it.”
UM President George Dennison said Eck has well served the Montana law community, the campus and his colleagues. Dennison said he's pleased Eck isn't leaving for good.
“He will now get promoted to faculty,” Dennison quipped.
Smug that he's chosen this year to take sabbatical and therefore won't have to endure the construction headaches, UM law professor Larry Howell said it's been an honor to work with Eck.
“Ed did a tremendous job and he showed great determination in completing the fundraising for the new building,” Howell said. “When we started the capital campaign, both the stock market crashed and Sept. 11 happened. A lot of people might have given up - he didn't. He raised close to $14 million without a lot of big donors by just a remarkable effort.”
“He was a fine dean,” Howell said. “An honorable, decent man who kept his own counsel about things.”
The changes and the changing of the guard usher in a new era, said UM law professor Raymond Cross.
“Ed's tenure as dean has been remarkable. At a personal level, he has helped guide younger faculty members and mentored me and helped me develop as a teacher and scholar,” Cross said.
During his fundraising efforts, Eck inspired a giant cast of students, faculty, staff, alumni and deep-pocketed donors to help build a better law school building.
“The past 10 years or so under his lead, Ed has taken the law school to the next level and poised us for a 21st-century school,” Cross said. “I take my hat off to him. Dean Eck's ability to bring that promise to fulfillment is deserving of the honor as one of the leading deans of the past and this future century.”
While thrilled with Eck's effort and thrilled to one day have a new building to work in, Cross said he's not so thrilled to work in and around a construction zone.
“Some faculty members are well prepared to get the semester going and some faculty members are a bit behind the curve,” Cross said. “A few of us are just moving back into the building and the challenge is getting our office ready and our computers plugged in again.”
“It's a wonderful new faculty wing, and I look forward to the new and improved environment,” he said. “I'm just hoping the air-conditioning works because the new windows don't open up to the outside.”
