New professorship honors UI Law Dean N. William Hines

Posted April 19, 2004

IOWA CITY -- The University of Iowa College of Law's alumni, friends, faculty and students have created the N. William Hines Professorship to recognize the legacy of the man who has served as dean longer than any other in the school's 139-year history.

Officials with the college and the Iowa Law School Foundation announced the new professorship last Saturday (April 17) at an event celebrating Hines's 28-year career as the school's dean and his 42-year tenure on its faculty.

The longest-serving current dean of any law school in the U.S., Hines will retire later this year, when he will be succeeded by UI law alumna Carolyn Jones of the University of Connecticut law faculty. Hines will return to the UI law school faculty, where he will teach and pursue research in property law and trusts and estates, and continue his service to the Association of American Law Schools, of which he is president-elect, and other professional associations.

"This professorship will permanently honor Bill's distinguished career and the contributions he has made in securing Iowa's position among the top law schools in the nation," said Charles M. Kierscht, an Iowa Law School Foundation board member and chair of the UI Foundation board of directors, in announcing the position. "When it is fully endowed, the Hines Professorship will be awarded at the Iowa Law School dean's discretion to a distinguished member of the faculty who has demonstrated excellence in the classroom and in scholarly research, and who shows the greatest potential for groundbreaking achievement. This is a most fitting tribute to Bill's inestimable legacy in advancing law education at Iowa."

Carol Havemann Lynch, president of the Iowa Law School Foundation board of directors, said, "We expect that the faculty member who is named the Hines Professor will greatly enhance Iowa's visibility through outstanding legal scholarship and service, thereby further strengthening the law school's national and international reputation and prestige. In addition, the Hines Professorship will be a valuable asset to future deans in helping to retain and reward some of the college's best teachers and scholars, particularly in today's competitive climate, when UI faculty are aggressively sought by other top-ranked law schools.

"Through their regard for all that Bill has done to elevate the college's standing, those who contribute to the Hines Professorship fund will be helping to ensure that our great law school will be held in high esteem far into the future," Lynch added.

She said that the Hines Professorship fund is well on its way to the $500,000 minimum goal to endow a UI professorship, "thanks to the generosity of several lead contributors." The college is seeking additional gifts from the college's alumni, friends, faculty, staff and students to reach the goal and fully endow the professorship.

Dean N. William Hines joined the faculty of the Iowa Law School in 1962 as an assistant professor and director of the Agricultural Law Center. In 1973, he was named the Joseph F. Rosenfield Distinguished Professor of Law, and in 1976 assumed the role of dean.

While the size of the college's student body has remained stable at around 700 throughout Hines's service as dean, the size of the faculty has nearly doubled from 29 to 50, the number of women on the faculty has increased from 2 to 18 and the number of minority faculty has grown from 1 to 6. The college's private endowment has grown during his deanship from $1 million to more than $50 million. The college's law library was recently ranked second best in the nation, and the college itself has consistently ranked among the top 7 U.S. public law schools and top 25 among all law schools in national surveys during recent years.

The UI Foundation is acknowledged by the UI as a preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the university. For more information about the Good. Better. Best. Iowa campaign, visit its web site at www.GoodBetterBestIowa.org.

Photos from the April 17 event celebrating Hines's 28-year career as the school's dean and his 42-year tenure on its faculty

Dean Hines speaks at the celebratory event.

Dean Hines poses with Carolyn C. Jones, a graduate of the University of Iowa and the UI College of Law. Currently a professor of law at the University of Connecticut, Jones will succeed Dean Hines on July 1.

Pictured are six of the eight law faculty members who left Iowa during Dean Hines' tenure to become law deans at other universities. Left to right are Gregory Williams, formerly law dean at Ohio State University and currently President of City College of New York; Richard Matasar, currently law dean at New York Law School; W.H. (Joe) Knight, currently law dean at the University of Washington; Sheldon Kurtz, formerly law dean at Florida State University; Dean Hines; Dorsey Ellis, formerly law dean at Washington University; and James Meeks, formerly law dean at Ohio State University. Present but not pictured was Randall Bezanson, formerly law dean at Washington and Lee University. Not present was Peter Shane, formerly law dean at Pittsburgh University.

Contact Information

Rich Wretman
Assistant Vice President, Constituent Development Programs
(319) 335-3305 or (800) 648-6973

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