“ I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” - Maya Angelou
We are giving your email inbox a summer break! The Monday Morning Message will resume the week of August 21, 2023, the first week of fall semester classes.
In the meantime, I have just one request.
It would mean a lot to us if you would take a moment before June 30, the end of our fiscal year, to support the opportunity for a student to achieve their dream of making a real difference in the world.
Please know that when you donate to CSU|LAW, you are investing in our students and their futures.
While our needs are great and we appreciate your support of any fund at CSU|LAW that aligns with your preferences, I am asking you to consider giving this month to one of the two below funds. As our most flexible sources of donor support, they allow us to be nimble and responsive to the immediate needs of our students as new challenges and opportunities arise.
Learn Law Live Justice Annual Fund:
Unrestricted dollars that can be put to use immediately where the need is the greatest.
Funding to pivot quickly to provide ahead-of-the-curve educational experiences for our students.
This past academic year has been extraordinary. Here are just some of the many highlights.
- We celebrated 125 years of our enduring commitment to learning law and living justice since 1897.
- We celebrated 5o years of our Legal Career Opportunities Program (LCOP), a groundbreaking program that admits students whose applications have demonstrated perseverance and promise for success, but whose standardized LSAT score does not reflect their greater potential.
- We launched one of the first ABA accredited online part-time JD programs in the nation(starting in Fall 2023).
- Bloomberg Law recognized our Center for Cybersecurity & Privacy Protection, directed by Professor Brian Ray, as a signature Law School Innovation Program.
- Our Appellate Practice Clinic, directed by Professor Doron Kalir, secured multiple victories in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Our Center for Health Law & Policy, co-directed by Professors Laura Hoffman and Abby Moncrieff, earned an A+ Rating by PreLaw Magazine.
- We welcomed five new professors – Professors Steven Chien, Jennifer Harrell, Abby Moncrieff, Harlan Sands, and Robert Triozzi.
- Professor Milena Sterio was named CSU Distinguished Professor, the highest honor given to a faculty member at the university.
- Professor Brian Ray received the 2023 Dean Wilson Stapleton Award for Faculty Excellence.
- Professor Matthew Green was named Dean’s Teacher.
- The Student Bar Association selected Visiting Professor Matthew Ahn as Faculty Member of the Year and Jill Natran as Staff Member of the Year.
- Khalida Sims Jackson was named Director, CSU|LAW Pardon, Clemency & Reentry Clinic.
- Adjunct Professor Charles (Spence) Witten received the Judge Richard M. Markus Adjunct Faculty Member of the Year Award.
- We partnered with the CSU Film School on a film festival, "All Rise: A Festival of Law and Film."
- Judge Clifton Newman ’76, who presided over the Alex Murdaugh murder trial, spoke to our law school community.
- We hosted some alumni who were sworn in to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in a ceremony with all nine Justices.
- We held our 5th Annual CSU|LAW Hall of Fame Celebration.
- Our Alumni Association held the Annual Recognition Luncheon honoring Frank Gallucci ’00 and Judge Deborah Turner ’97.
- CSU|LAW Leader-in-Residence Kelly Tompkins ’81 was appointed by Governor DeWine to the CSU Board of Trustees.
- Sarah Flannery ‘02 was selected as Chair, CSU|LAW Board of Visitors.
- Robin Wilson ‘96 completed her term as President of the Alumni Association, and Katie Kirby ‘10 started her term as President.
- Former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor ‘80 was named a CSU|LAW Jurist-in-Residence and Sheryl King Benford ’79 was named a CSU|LAW Leader-in-Residence.
- Steve Potash ’78 and Loree Potash ’79 were the first couple to give a CSU|LAW Commencement address.
- Class Valedictorian Camille Pollutro '23, Dean’s Learn Law Live Justice Award Recipient Katheryn Hach ’23, and Student Bar Association President Christina O'Brien ’23, spoke at Commencement.
- The Class of 2023 was one of the most resilient classes in our law school’s history. In the midst of finding new ways to learn during Covid, they invented new ways to engage with each other and their legal education, and they thrived.
- From our 40% increase in enrollment since 2016, our #1 ranking as the top public law school in Northern Ohio, and our 12 nationally ranked specialty law programs – we are a law school on the rise.
Please donate by clicking here. No gift is too small.
Please help us continue to support our students, to transform lives, and to prepare the future leaderswho will change the world.
Our mission has never been more relevant and our need for support has never been more vital.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to our great law school. Here’s to another 125 years of learning law and living justice.
May you have a summer of resilience, hope, and spirit.
Have a great day. Have a great week.
My best,
Lee
Lee Fisher
Dean, Cleveland State University College of Law | Cleveland State University
Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law
For copies of past messages, please go to this link: Monday Morning Messages.