A new director of the Pre-Law center may be named next week.
About 100 applicants met the minimum requirements and were evaluated based on 14 different criteria established by the Pre-Law Implementation committee, said Chairman of the Political Science Department Larry Aspin.
“The top scorers were then asked to document their credentials, provide letters of reference and complete a 500-word essay on their action plan for the first 90 days as director of the Pre-Law center,” Aspin said. “After reviewing these materials the committee invited three candidates to complete campus interviews.”
Each of the candidates attended an informal reception in Bradley Hall, gave formal presentations and had a question and answer session in the Cullom-Davis Library last Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Students, faculty and staff were able to attend the sessions.
Senior health science major Michelle Kosner said she liked how the sessions were setup.
“I went to the presentations on Tuesday and Wednesday,” she said. “I heard about it in my business law class.”
Kosner said she enjoyed that the candidates presented in an open forum so students could give their opinions and comments, as well as ask any questions they wanted.
“They told us we could e-mail the committee with any comments we had about the candidates,” she said.
Kosner also said she thought the candidates were well-spoken and organized.
“All of the candidates spoke about the same topic and we got to see their different styles of presentation,” she said.
The first candidate, Ken Klotz, received his degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law. He practiced bankruptcy, banking, general corporate, acquisitions, commercial transactions, creation and perfection of security interests and contracts law for 13 years in Houston, TX.
Klotz also has experience as the Director of the Bradley Small Business Development Center.
Scott Paulsen attended the University of Iowa and has experience in criminal litigation as a public defender and Assistant State’s Attorney.
He has civil litigation experience from law school, where he was a professor and mock trial coach.
Tammy King attended the Vanderbilt University Law School.
She practiced law with firms in St. Louis with an emphasis on commercial litigation. King works as the Director of Career Services where she provides career counseling and professional development services to law students at the Washington University School of Law.
Aspin said the Pre-Law Implementation committee will be meeting on Monday to assess the interviews and presentations conducted this past week.
“The committee will decide whom they want to make their recommendation for, or if they want the university to interview another candidate,” he said.
The committee consists of 11 faculty members and professors that come from many different fields including psychology, history, English, political science, engineering, communications and business.
He said he doesn’t know how long it will take to fill the position because it depends on whom they choose and when the candidate is available, or if the committee decides to interview an entirely new candidate.
“I just know they should have a definite decision about it after they meet on Monday,” he said.
