Faculty Highlight: Professor Duff Named New Associate Dean for Student Programs and External Relations

Effective October 1st, 2015, Professor Michael Duff will be stepping into his new role at the College of Law as Associate Dean for Student Programs and External Relations. Traditionally, the College of Law has had two Associate Deans, one for Academic Affairs and one for Student Services. Since the fall of 2013, the College of Law has been one Associate Dean short, leaving an overwhelming amount of administrative duties on the current administration. The appointment of Duff will not only alleviate some of that burden, but will also expand the College of Law’s existing programs and further develop relations within the state and around the nation.

As Associate Dean for Student Programs and External Relations, Duff will be tasked with addressing many of the challenges experienced in the current climate of legal education. Law schools nationwide have faced a decline in student applications, dramatic increases in tuition rates and student loan debts, a constrained job market, and a lower bar passage rate. Duff will oversee and work closely with both the Director of Career Services and the Director of Admissions to enhance job placement and external opportunities for students, as well as ensure that external efforts in recruiting are effective and efficient for attracting the best students possible to the College of Law.

Additionally, Professor Duff will also be charged with ensuring the success of students currently enrolled at the College of Law, by enhancing development strategies to promote success in the classroom and on the bar exam.

Professor Duff is excited to take on the new role. “I am incredibly honored that Dean Alexander and the Faculty of the College of Law have entrusted me with a range of duties that have become significantly complicated in an era of unprecedented change in legal education,” he says. “I am excited by the unique opportunity I have been presented to work on innovative solutions to these complications.”

Professor Duff has been at the University of Wyoming College of Law since 2006. He founded the College of Law’s Academic Support Program and directed it for seven years. He currently teaches courses in Labor Law, Workers’ Compensation Law, and Torts, and is the College’s Centennial Distinguished Professor of Law. Prior to teaching at UW, he worked as an attorney for eleven years. He earned his B.A. in Philosophy from West Chester University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Harvard.