To Make a Difference: Dean as Producer

As I look at my fifth year as Dean of Hamline University School of Law, I am often struck by the dissonance between my professional life, as a lawyer and law professor, and my administrative life, as a dean within a small university. In both roles, I remain driven to make a difference for the individuals I serve and the broader community in which we live. But these roles have never sat comfortably, one with the other. I am a product of my unique practice and academic experience. An entertainment lawyer by disposition, my field includes a broad array of intellectual property law and the arts or business organizations which exploit these rights. Perhaps blinded by my professional background, I believe that to make a difference, we must learn from these fields to make a difference for our schools, students, institutions, and communities. As I prepare for my last year as Dean of Hamline, this essay allows me the opportunity to reflect on how to make that difference for both our students and our institutions.