UALR law school dean to exit post

Michael Hunter Schwartz will step down from his position as dean of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock W.H. Bowen School of Law next summer.

His last day as dean will be June 30, university spokesman Allen Hicks said Friday.

Schwartz, 54, will work as a faculty member after that, Hicks said.

Schwartz declined a request to be interviewed about his resignation, and no reason was given for his departure, which was announced Friday in a campuswide message from university Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Zulma R. Toro.

"I extend my sincere thanks to Dean Schwartz for his hard work and commitment to the law school and am happy he will continue to contribute to the success of the law students we serve," Toro said in the announcement.

As dean, Schwartz earns $234,600 per year.

Born in Philadelphia, Schwartz earned an undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1984 and received his law degree from the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He taught at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kan., where he was associate dean, before getting the deanship at Bowen on July 1, 2013.

At the Bowen Law School, Schwartz created a mandatory lawyer-student mentoring program, required live-client learning sessions, set up a clinic in the Arkansas Delta where students work with low-income clients and established clinics in mediation.

Throughout his career, Schwartz has written 10 books and traveled across the world to make nearly 200 presentations at conferences at law schools, including a January trip to Saudi Arabia to teach workshops at Prince Sultan University, the country's first law school for women.

Metro on 11/19/2016

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