August 22, 2010

Cooley Promotes 11 Faculty Members

Thomas M. Cooley Law School announced today the promotion of 11 faculty members, effective January 1, 2011.

Cooley's Board of Directors promoted seven faculty members from Associate Professor to Full Professor with Tenure: Assistant Dean and Associate Professor Christine Church, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor Dan Ray, Associate Professor Curt Benson, Associate Professor Cindy Faulkner, Associate Professor Anthony Flores, Associate Professor Norman Plate, and Associate Professor Paul Sorensen.

Cooley's Board promoted four faculty members from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor: Assistant Professor Tammy Asher, Assistant Professor Stevie Barachkov, Assistant Professor Sherry Batzer, and Assistant Professor Monica Nuckolls.

The promotions included representatives of all four of Cooley's campuses: Professors Flores and Ray are assigned to the Ann Arbor campus; Professors Asher, Barachkov, and Nuckolls are assigned to the Auburn Hills campus; Professors Batzer, Benson, Faulkner, and Sorensen are assigned to the Grand Rapids campus; and Professors Church and Plate are assigned to the Lansing campus.

Before the Board of Directors acted, the process involved five steps, beginning with each candidate assembling a dossier including evidence of their performance as faculty members. Under the leadership of Professor Maurice Munroe, each candidate received a favorable review by separate faculty committees to assure compliance with the school’s requirements regarding teaching, service, and scholarship. Next, each received a favorable review by the tenured faculty within the Faculty Conference, recommending their promotions to Associate Dean of Faculty Charles Cercone. Dean Cercone conducted a separate review and submitted a favorable recommendation to President and Dean Don LeDuc. Finally, Dean LeDuc recommended the promotions to the Board of Directors.

Dean Cercone noted that each of the candidates exceeded the promotion requirements. "I've worked closely with each of them over the past several years, and I recommended these promotions because they are all dedicated teachers, diligent scholars, and leaders within the Cooley community."

President LeDuc added that all the candidates received unanimous support from the reviewing committees and overwhelming support from the senior faculty. "These faculty members earned their promotions on their merits by working hard and by demonstrating to their peers that they are great colleagues. They validate Cooley's commitment to developing a faculty with substantial legal practice experience to teach the next generation of lawyers. Dean Cercone and I are pleased that the Board of Directors saw fit to accept our unqualified recommendation, supporting the faculty recommendations."

Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the nation.  Founded in 1972, it operates J.D. programs across Michigan in Lansing, Auburn Hills, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor.  Today, Cooley Law School has over 14,000 graduates across the nation and worldwide and also offers joint degree and master of laws programs.  Cooley offers enrollment three times a year; in January, May and September. Additional information about Cooley can be found at cooley.edu