The College of Law has hit the trifecta of measurements with significant gains in admissions, bar passage and fund raising.

While law school applications are declining across the nation, applications at Willamette’s College of Law for 2005 are up 22 percent from last year and have reached the highest number in the college’s history. According to Dean Symeon Symeonides, “new specialization programs have made Willamette more attractive to prospective students.” This is the third consecutive year in which applications have increased 20 percent or more, an overall increase of 106 percent since 2002. The national increase for the same time period was only 4.6 percent.

“We are delighted with these numbers,” says Symeonides, “but we will continue to aim higher.” Like the University overall, the law school is not seeking to increase its total enrollment. Rather, the College of Law will admit “the lowest percentage of applicants in the school’s history so as to further strengthen the academic profile of the entering class,” Symeonides explains. Plans call for enrolling a class of 150 students, down from the usual 175, from a record-breaking pool of 1,550 applicants.

The College of Law reported the best bar exam pass percentage in 25 years, a measure of success Symeonides attributes to the school’s rigorous academic standards for “producing a more professional student body.” Fully 85 percent of Willamette graduates passed the Oregon bar on the first attempt, surpassing the state average by 11 percent.

Supporters are always encouraged by such success, and the law school has received historic donations in recent years that have more than doubled its total endowment and will shape future programming and facilities.

A $2 million contribution from Kenneth D. (JD’80) and Claudia Peterson and the Peterson Family Foundation partially endowed the Willamette Center for Law and Government. Trustee Rod Wendt (JD’80) and his wife, Carol, donated $2.5 million to establish the Wendt Chair in Business Law. An anonymous benefactor gave $2 million to partially endow the Clinical Law Program, and Maribeth Collins, a life member of the board of trustees, recently contributed $500,000 to the effort.

Growing programs require additional space. A $600,000 challenge grant from Meyer Memorial Trust will help renovate the Carnegie Building, built in 1912 as Salem’s first public library, at the corner of State and Winter streets. The renovated building will be home to the College of Law’s admissions office and four cocurricular programs — the Clinical Law Program, the Center for Law and Government, the Oregon Law Commission and the Willamette Law Review.

On Campus: A detail from the entrance to the College of Law

hile the law school is extending its reach up Winter Street, the Atkinson Graduate School of Management has staked its own claim in Portland’s Pearl District.

The AGSM Portland-based Professional MBA program will kick off this academic year, marking the first time in the 163-year history of the University that a degree program has been offered off campus. Rather than rely on adjunct faculty, the courses will be taught by full-time faculty from the Atkinson School. The program’s evening format will allow professionals to take MBA classes while continuing to work. The program may be completed in as little as two years.

A new program at a new site is just one measure of success for AGSM. The school was recently reaccredited during a five-year review by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. “The affirmation of our accreditation puts the Atkinson School in excellent company,” says Dean James Goodrich. “Only 14 percent, fewer than 1 in 7, of all business degree programs in the country are accredited by the AACSB.”

The Atkinson School is one of only three MBA programs in the Pacific Northwest to have been profiled in the 2005 edition of the Princeton Review’s Best 143 Business Schools. It recently received recognition among the top 30 national programs in public finance in U.S. News & World Report’s graduate school rankings.

National reputation and recognition, due in part to an innovative core curriculum and six program options, generate increased interest. Applications to AGSM in 2005 were up 14 percent over the previous year. This number was in stark contrast to application patterns at peer institutions. In April 2005 BusinessWeek reported that applications to the magazine’s top 30 MBA programs had “dropped almost 30 percent overall since 1998, with some schools seeing declines of 50 percent or more.” Says Goodrich, “Atkinson is obviously bucking the national trend.” Like the College of Law and the University overall, AGSM is not focused on class size, but rather on the academic strength of those selected for enrollment. In May AGSM graduated 66 students, 23 of whom were invited to join prestigious national and international honor societies.

The Atkinson Class of 2005 represented 13 countries, another encouraging sign of growth. “We are keenly aware that our international focus will prepare our graduates to compete successfully in other cultures, in world markets,” Goodrich explains. “With our Oregon location, our international exchange and internship opportunities, we are perfectly placed to serve the business communities of Asia, India and Latin America.”

loser to home, dozens of Oregon teachers will return to the classroom this fall, as students. One group will participate in the Willamette School of Education Aspire Program. Started last August, this two-year program with evening and weekend classes serves teachers, instructional assistants and others who seek an Oregon teaching license and master’s degree in early childhood, elementary, middle or high school education.

The Aspire program serves prospective teachers who need a more flexible schedule and who would be challenged to quit their jobs for the more traditional 10-month program. This new program drew 20 students last year, and enrollment is expected to reach 25 this fall.

“The Aspire program has attracted a more diverse, nontraditional student to our door,” says Karen Hamlin, SOE director. “They bring more life experience to the program, and that benefits everyone.”

Aspire isn’t the only new offering at the School of Education. New Directions in Educational Leadership, which opened in July, is an 11-month, part-time program leading to administrative licensure, allowing teachers to move up the leadership ladder in K–12 education. “We seek candidates who have the skills and desire to raise the level of academic achievement for students in high-need areas,” Hamlin says.

To qualify for New Directions, applicants must already hold a master’s degree and have three years of teaching experience. “The program is a magnet for leaders, for people who embrace challenge.”

More good news for the School of Education includes two technology grants: Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) for $1.3 million and the Teacher Quality Enhancement Partnership (TQE-P) grant for $1.6 million. Involving a consortium of schools, the funding has allowed participants to develop an educational technology library that includes wireless laptop computers, CD burners, data projectors, digital camcorders, high-storage disk drives and software. These projects also strengthen technology curricula and encourage student teachers to introduce and better integrate technology into their classrooms.

In the Classroom: Jared Lawson ’03, MAT ’04