University of Washington 2012 Forum

[tvaddicted]

Anyone curious/have any thoughts on the new dean? who that might be? does anyone care? I for one, am totally curious...

Just a little bit <sarcasm>. My biggest fear is, regarding this matter, is that they go bust on another round of dean searching. They named a candidate last year, but that person didn't end up taking the job I believe. If they continue to struggle to find a suitable replacement that just doesn't look good.

I am not letting this dissuade me from attending, since my next best offer (also sticker) is a 30 pt drop in rankings, but it is a bit frustrating. It is interesting to think about how dean quality, or existence in this case, impacts the law school experience. I look at it this way: a great dean uses leadership and motivation to steer the entire school in a positive direction, while a mediocre dean, and to some extent bad ones too, allow for drift and the continuation of the status quo.

Given that, I think the UW is a strong enough program with high caliber faculty and strong support for the rest of the University that drift is tolerable in the short term. Though I would love to be greated by a dean, come this September, who can speak to the entering class in a way that pumps everyone up and really makes you feel that this is going to be an amazing three years.

FWIW.

I definitely agree...wasn't there some controversy with the previous dean? I heard that the dean's relations with alumni was strained.

[pubintrst]

Yes, there was. http://dailyuw.com/2007/1/17/law-dean-r ... ntroversy/

There is a Seattle Times article that I read a while back too.

I'll synopsize from my memory:

It was a mixed tenure, leaving in his wake the following accomplishments. Attributable to him or not he was dean when all of the following happened.

Clerical error that lead to a ~ 6 pt drop in USNWR rankings.

Largest donation to UW Law in history (Gates PSL scholarship fund, $35 mil).

Construction of the new law school building. This is often attributed to Bill Gates as well, but I have never seen a reputable source to confirm. Haven't looked for one either though.

Suspension of a ~$1 million donation from an alum. A former UW law student donated some very sizable amount of money and then froze the donation due to lack of communication. I believe she was wanting to restrict the funds to some specific uses and the school basically didn't step up to the plate and meet with her. Oops.

There was also conflict with him and the faculty.

I'm not too concerned about much of this, as I think the ramifications from most of these negligent actions has dissipated.

[jcl2]

Construction of the new law school building. This is often attributed to Bill Gates as well, but I have never seen a reputable source to confirm. Haven't looked for one either though.

The building is named after Willimam H. Gates, Senior, Bill Gates' father. I'm pretty sure he was the one who donated the money for it as well. He is a graduate of the law school and co-founded Preston Gates & Ellis (now K&L Gates).

[BenjaminAlan]

Anyone curious/have any thoughts on the new dean? who that might be? does anyone care? I for one, am totally curious...

Just a little bit <sarcasm>. My biggest fear is, regarding this matter, is that they go bust on another round of dean searching. They named a candidate last year, but that person didn't end up taking the job I believe. If they continue to struggle to find a suitable replacement that just doesn't look good.

I am not letting this dissuade me from attending, since my next best offer (also sticker) is a 30 pt drop in rankings, but it is a bit frustrating. It is interesting to think about how dean quality, or existence in this case, impacts the law school experience. I look at it this way: a great dean uses leadership and motivation to steer the entire school in a positive direction, while a mediocre dean, and to some extent bad ones too, allow for drift and the continuation of the status quo.

Given that, I think the UW is a strong enough program with high caliber faculty and strong support for the rest of the University that drift is tolerable in the short term. Though I would love to be greated by a dean, come this September, who can speak to the entering class in a way that pumps everyone up and really makes you feel that this is going to be an amazing three years.

FWIW.

I completely agree..... man it would not speak well for the UW if they miss out on a dean AGAIN. Then in my mind, its like "why not dean Hicks?" I heard that they turned him down a while back.

I think that a dean makes a BIG difference. Perhaps not in the day to day experience of law school, but certainly in the law schools prospects for the future. Especially since the UW as a whole is really hurting financially right now and one of the major roles of a dean is fundraising. I think that they definitely need a leader at this point. A year or two is one thing, but its definitely time.

I heard that the dean of SU withdrew from the running. Not sure if thats true, but I was thinking..maybe its too stressful of a job for some people in this climate. All of UW is running on a really tight budget over the next couple years...anyway, I hope that doesn't impact their selection of a dean in any negative way, but I can see how it easily could.

[BenjaminAlan]

Construction of the new law school building. This is often attributed to Bill Gates as well, but I have never seen a reputable source to confirm. Haven't looked for one either though.

The building is named after Willimam H. Gates, Senior, Bill Gates' father. I'm pretty sure he was the one who donated the money for it as well. He is a graduate of the law school and co-founded Preston Gates & Ellis (now K&L Gates).

YEa, but you can see in the entrance to the law school, a color coded legend of the largest donors and Bill and Melinda Gates have their own category--- those gifts over 10 mil. I think I heard it was sort a gift from Bill to his dad so I think thats why its named in his honor.

[pubintrst]

Construction of the new law school building. This is often attributed to Bill Gates as well, but I have never seen a reputable source to confirm. Haven't looked for one either though.

The building is named after Willimam H. Gates, Senior, Bill Gates' father. I'm pretty sure he was the one who donated the money for it as well. He is a graduate of the law school and co-founded Preston Gates & Ellis (now K&L Gates).

YEa, but you can see in the entrance to the law school, a color coded legend of the largest donors and Bill and Melinda Gates have their own category--- those gifts over 10 mil. I think I heard it was sort a gift from Bill to his dad so I think thats why its named in his honor.

I guess he kinda owes his dad, what after stealing his name and all. Can you imagine naming your son after yourself, fully expecting he'd be called junior all his life and then you get this crap. No one inquires which Bill you're talking about when you refer to Bill Gates.

[BenjaminAlan]

Construction of the new law school building. This is often attributed to Bill Gates as well, but I have never seen a reputable source to confirm. Haven't looked for one either though.

The building is named after Willimam H. Gates, Senior, Bill Gates' father. I'm pretty sure he was the one who donated the money for it as well. He is a graduate of the law school and co-founded Preston Gates & Ellis (now K&L Gates).

YEa, but you can see in the entrance to the law school, a color coded legend of the largest donors and Bill and Melinda Gates have their own category--- those gifts over 10 mil. I think I heard it was sort a gift from Bill to his dad so I think thats why its named in his honor.

I guess he kinda owes his dad, what after stealing his name and all. Can you imagine naming your son after yourself, fully expecting he'd be called junior all his life and then you get this crap. No one inquires which Bill you're talking about when you refer to Bill Gates.

Not to mention all those lectures Bill gave to Bill while Bill was growing up about the importance of a good, long education, and how going to law school would be a good idea.... only to see Bill get into Harvard and then DROP OUT! Yea Bill totally owes Bill, no question.

[jcl2]

Bill Gates, Sr., also used to be Bill Gates, Jr., his father was also Bill Gates. Apparently when Bill Gates III became famous, Bill Gates, Jr. changed his name to Bill Gates, Sr. to differentiate himself from his son. Or something like that.

[judgemillslane77]

Bill Gates, Sr., also used to be Bill Gates, Jr., his father was also Bill Gates. Apparently when Bill Gates III became famous, Bill Gates, Jr. changed his name to Bill Gates, Sr. to differentiate himself from his son. Or something like that.

[jcl2]

Bill Gates, Sr., also used to be Bill Gates, Jr., his father was also Bill Gates. Apparently when Bill Gates III became famous, Bill Gates, Jr. changed his name to Bill Gates, Sr. to differentiate himself from his son. Or something like that.

It is pretty weird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Gates,_Sr. I was actually wrong, the current Bill Gates, Sr. was the third Bill Gates. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, was the fourth. He did change his name to Sr. though, to differentiate himself from the Bill Gates we are all most familiar with.

[pubintrst]

Bill Gates, Sr., also used to be Bill Gates, Jr., his father was also Bill Gates. Apparently when Bill Gates III became famous, Bill Gates, Jr. changed his name to Bill Gates, Sr. to differentiate himself from his son. Or something like that.

It is pretty weird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Gates,_Sr. I was actually wrong, the current Bill Gates, Sr. was the third Bill Gates. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, was the fourth. He did change his name to Sr. though, to differentiate himself from the Bill Gates we are all most familiar with.

Not sure why I'm so interested in all of this, but I did a bit of research as well. The above is accurate and regarding the law school building, it was Bill and Melinda who dropped the large chunk of change, $14 million or thereabouts. That was part of $34 million in donations that were being pursued from outside funders, not sure what the total cost was or how much the University itself ponied up.

[jcl2]

Bill Gates, Sr., also used to be Bill Gates, Jr., his father was also Bill Gates. Apparently when Bill Gates III became famous, Bill Gates, Jr. changed his name to Bill Gates, Sr. to differentiate himself from his son. Or something like that.

It is pretty weird. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Gates,_Sr. I was actually wrong, the current Bill Gates, Sr. was the third Bill Gates. Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder, was the fourth. He did change his name to Sr. though, to differentiate himself from the Bill Gates we are all most familiar with.

Not sure why I'm so interested in all of this, but I did a bit of research as well. The above is accurate and regarding the law school building, it was Bill and Melinda who dropped the large chunk of change, $14 million or thereabouts. That was part of $34 million in donations that were being pursued from outside funders, not sure what the total cost was or how much the University itself ponied up.

I don't know why I care either. I think the total cost of the building was somewhere in the 60-70 million dollar range, and the state required half of the funds to be raised through private donations.

On another note, I can't wait to start school. Looks like it is probably still 16 months away though.

[judgemillslane77]

HuskyLaw,
If you are still trolling, I have sent you a PM, thanks!

[madootz]

Aaaaand we have a winner:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... wdean.html

[judgemillslane77]

Aaaaand we have a winner:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... wdean.html

what does everyone think?
seems ok to me...

[jcl2]

Sounds like she has done good things at SU. Hopefully she will do the same at UW. A 20 spot increase in the rankings over the next three years would be awesome

[BenjaminAlan]

Sounds like she has done good things at SU. Hopefully she will do the same at UW. A 20 spot increase in the rankings over the next three years would be awesome

word on the street is they offered it to the G-town guy but he turned it down... something about his wife didn't want to live in seattle and he took a teaching position at yale instead.

my 1st reaction is: yea, he'd be my 1st choice too. plus, sucks to not get your 1st choice.

by 2nd reaction though its that I have to believe they wouldn't choose someone who wasn't up to snuff and so I think its great that they have somone now! also, if UW's history is any indicator of how these things work generally... seems like a lot of times you dont get your 1st choice cuz maybe those people aren't quite serious about it... as the last time their 1st choice turned them down as well....

no more excuses now that they have a dean! they need to get their admissions and financial aid etc. etc. etc. whipped into shape!

[jcl2]

Just got notice that my request for a deferral was granted, so it looks like I will be waiting a year. I'm a little disappointing, but life will be a little less stressful this way. Having a baby, moving to Seattle with my wife pregnant and not having a job lined up, and starting law school seemed like a bit too much.

Good luck with your first year everyone! I'll see you all in 16 months.

[judgemillslane77]

good luck to you too jcl!

[jcl2]

good luck to you too jcl!

So did you get off of the waitlist? If so, congrats!

[newcritic]

It seems this thread has gone cold, but I'm curious as to who's getting a new laptop for UW and what type. Also, does anyone have any insights into childcare?

[HuskyLaw]

It seems this thread has gone cold, but I'm curious as to who's getting a new laptop for UW and what type. Also, does anyone have any insights into childcare?

Newcritic: I hope this link helps; the deadline has theoretically passed, but I think you'll be ok if you get on it ASAP: http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa ... .care.html

Good luck!

[judgemillslane77]

how much is everyone looking at spending on rent each month?
what are everyone's ideas on roomates?

[BenjaminAlan]

It seems this thread has gone cold, but I'm curious as to who's getting a new laptop for UW and what type. Also, does anyone have any insights into childcare?

I plan on continuing to use my macbook through school. Its a year old at this point.

[newcritic]

how much is everyone looking at spending on rent each month?
what are everyone's ideas on roomates?

Just from taking the occasional glance at Craig's List, it seems there's 2 bedroom apartments available from 800-1200 (even more if you get into the 1400/1500s) in Ballard, Wedgewood, Ravenna, and other neighborhoods around the U.

Obviously I'll be living with my wife, but if there are folks out there with kids who want to share the cost of a nanny for child care, we'd be very interested. I heard there are folks who do this at the open house, and I read about it in one of those Seattle magazines.