Contact Maureen Shine (541) 346-3145 Aug. 13, 1997 Source: Jane Gordon, associate dean, UO School of Law, (541) 346-3852 UO law school begins classes Aug. 20 EDITOR'S NOTE: Rennard Strickland, the University of Oregon School of Law's new dean, will welcome students at a convocation ceremony at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18, in Room 229 at the Law Center, 1101 Kincaid St. EUGENE--The times are definitely changing at the University of Oregon School of Law. The law school's new academic year begins on Wednesday, Aug. 20, with a new dean, bustling construction activity on a new, state-of-the-art building and an entering class that will be the school's first to graduate in the 21st century. "This will be a year for looking both inward and outward to assess how best to build on our strengths, so that our law students in the 21st century are as well prepared as those who came before them," says Rennard Strickland, who became dean at the UO law school on July 1. Strickland, a renowned Native American legal scholar and former Oklahoma City University law dean, was selected in April to replace Charles O'Kelley. "Many of our new students will be practicing law into the middle of the next century," says Strickland. "This is the perfect time to evaluate how we must change to best serve our students, the legal profession and the public." Strickand and faculty will be evaluating key areas of legal education including professional responsibility, integrating theory and practice, and interdisciplinary problem solving. The law school is also surveying its alumni for their ideas on how the school should position itself for the future. "In addition to excellence in traditional legal education, the UO law school has a reputation for interdisciplinary leadership in areas such as environmental law, mediation and dispute resolution, and through our programs including the Ocean and Coastal Law and the Law and Entrepreneurship centers," says Strickland. "We want to continue to be a model for other law schools by maintaining outstanding quality in the fundamentals, and by creating the kind of integration and problem solving between law, business, commerce and industry that meets the needs of a changing society." Keeping pace with technology, a long-term goal for the law school, will be realized when its new law center at East 15th Avenue and Agate Street opens in early 1999. Construction began in June. The new 138,000 square-foot-facility will offer state-of-the art connectivity to on-line information data bases and on-line classes and live video teleconferencing. It will also have more classrooms, flexible study and meeting areas and double the law library space, making it possible to store the library's entire collection, one-third of which is now stored elsewhere on campus. The $25 million center is being financed with $10.3 million from the sale of state bonds and $15.3 million from gifts and grants. The new UO Law Center will be named in honor of 1932 law school graduate William W. Knight, whose son, Philip Knight, last year committed $10 million to the law school building project. While change is a theme at the law school, some things remain the same including a commitment to diversity. With this year's entering class, overall enrollment will be approximately 530 students of which 50 percent are women and 15 percent are minorities. -30- #F-4005/Local,OrDailies,OrLaw