Autumn leaves

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

The Diversity Committee pursued its agenda of increasing the numbers of persons from underrepresented minority groups in legal education and the legal profession. The focus was to improve and enhance existing initiatives, and also to create new ones. Highlights of the 2009–2010 year include the following. DiscoverLaw.org: The interactive website leveraged social networking and other technology to engage and educate students about law school and the legal profession. An information hub answered students’ questions about legal careers; offered access to admission experts who answered questions about becoming a lawyer; provided an inspirational e-community that shared real-life success stories; gave updates about the latest news, resources, and events; and scheduled podcasts and webinars on topics designed to assist students in becoming successful law school applicants, matriculants, and graduates. Twenty campus coordinators were trained and hired to promote awareness of the DiscoverLaw.org campaign, which was reflected in the increased number of site registrants. (For information about DiscoverLaw.org’s pilot regions, see page 19.) October 2009 saw the highest number of registrants in any month since the campaign began in 2008. In February 2010, a new record was set.

Other noteworthy highlights of the campaign:

• More than 120 LSAC-member schools participated in DiscoverLaw.org Months in 2009–2010.

• More than 68,000 unique visitors went to the website as of March 31, 2010.

• 71 percent of all DiscoverLaw registrants were undergraduate or high school students.

• 70 percent of all DiscoverLaw registrants came from diverse populations.

Diversity Matters Award: The first Diversity Matters Awards were presented at the 2010 LSAC Annual Meeting and Educational Conference. This newly instituted award recognized those LSAC- member law schools that have demonstrated the highest levels of outreach efforts to racially and ethnically diverse students. DiscoverLaw.org PLUS Programs: In 2009–2010, three new programs were chosen from a very competitive pool of proposals submitted: University of Baltimore School of Law, Ohio Northern University—Claude W. Pettit College of Law, and The University of New Mexico School of Law. Each program received a grant of up to $100,000 a year for three years. Academic Assistance Workshop: In 2010, four one-day topical workshops were conducted. They included Teaching 21st Century Students with Technology (in May 2010 at Florida Coastal), Learning How to Counsel Students (in June 2010 at Elon), Newcomers Workshop (in August at Western State), and Creating and Maintaining a Successful Bar Preparation/Support Program (in September at McGeorge).

BIENNIAL REPORT 2009–2011