Repository: UIHistories Project: Dedication - Law [PAGE 2]

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DEAN'S MESSAGE

With this rededicated building, the College of Law begins a new era. Already I sense among our students a renewed spirit of pride in their law school. Among the faculty there is an optimism that with vision and energy we can together move the school in new directions. Partly this enthusiasm results from the new building itself, which has surpassed all of our expectations. What we see is the result of a comprehensive needs assessment undertaken by Dean Peter Hay and Dean Richard Schmalbeck and the Colleges building committee. With alumni Peer Pedersen 048) and Carl Webber ('73) and student and faculty representatives, this committee went to every part of the law school and asked a simple question: What are your needs? Together with the architectural firm of O'Donnell, Wicklund, Pigozzi & Peterson, the committee has translated those needs into the tremendous arrangement of space we encounter today. Our enthusiasm also results from precisely this kind of coordinated effort by those who have invested in the ongoing excellence of the College of Law. Throughout the campaign to solicit building funds, we have reached out to the College's alumni and friends, renewing old ties and developing many new ones. We are very grateful to our graduates, not only for their generous support but also for their continuing interest in this law school and their boundless willingness to contribute guidance and expertise. As Dean, I intend through the Board of Visitors and other means to listen well and make good use of this extended family. Finally, we are excited by the challenges that lie ahead: to continue to provide an excellent education to our students, to impress upon them the importance of pursuing the highest ethical standards of conduct, and to inspire them to aspire to be nothing less than leaders among the bench and bar. These are the Colleges chief missions, and this building has renewed my colleagues' commitment to those goals. Today we rededicate our law building and celebrate the many contributions that have brought the College to this stage of excellence. I thank every one of you who has helped to realize our dream of a facility that rivals those of other premier law schools. And I invite your participation, as we step forth in ways that will make us all proud to be pan of the University of Illinois College of Law.

Thomas M. Mcngler Dean, College of Law, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign