Transition and looking ahead Frank G. Houdek was appointed interim dean of the law school effective July 1. Since July 2007, Houdek has served as associate dean for academic affairs. The former director of the law school library, Houdek has more than 24 years administrative experience at SIU. He will also continue as a law professor. “Frank Houdek moves to the interim deanship from his position as associate dean of the SIU School of Law. He is a long-term member of the School of Law faculty and I believe he brings to the position both historical perspective and a vision of the future for the school,” Interim SIUC Provost and Vice Chancellor Don S. Rice said. “I think he is very well-positioned to prepare the school for the selection of a new, permanent dean.” Houdek replaces Peter C. Alexander who has been dean since 2003. Alexander will be a visiting professor at the Notre Dame Law School this fall, and then on sabbatical in the spring for research for a book he’s writing on the financial dealings of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Houdek has worked for five permanent deans and several interim or acting deans during his nearly 25 years at the law school. Houdek views his job as interim dean “as being one that tries to keep the law school on course and leaves the law school in good shape for when a permanent dean arrives.” The law school in the last several years worked hard and completed an ambitious self-study prepared as part of the American Bar Association’s accreditation process in 2008-2009, he said.
“The faculty in many discussions talked about and ultimately made decisions about directions they would like to see the law school move toward,” Houdek said. “In a way, the game plan has been designed by the faculty. I will do my best within available resources to implement as many of those decisions as I can, or at least prepare the law school to take the next steps toward implementation.” A key emphasis during the self-study process was on devising ways to incorporate more experiential, or hands-on, practical opportunities into the school’s program of legal education. Houdek noted that while the law school has had a “very substantial and significant clinical program” for many years, the faculty hopes to provide more experiential learning opportunities in the law school’s traditional courses as well. Two “semester away” programs for students will start with the upcoming 2009-2010 academic year, where students spend a semester living and working in different locations. The programs will be available for second- and third-year law school students, with an emphasis on third-year students. Under the guidance of Professor William Schroeder, students this fall will extern with the Missouri public defender’s office in southeast Missouri. In the spring, under the guidance of Associate Professor Thomas C. Britton, students in the program will have the opportunity to work in Springfield with a focus on state and local government. A Los Angeles native, Houdek, 60, earned his law degree, library and bachelor’s degrees at UCLA. He then worked in several professional library posi-
tions in Los Angeles before coming to SIU School of Law in January 1985. Houdek and his wife, Susan E. Tulis, an associate dean for Library Affairs at SIUC’s Morris Library, live in Carbondale. The couple has four children. The law school will conduct a search for a permanent dean in the coming year. The law school’s dean search committee includes both faculty and law school alumni. Rice said the University will conduct a national search. The application deadline is this fall, with the hope of naming a new dean in early winter. The anticipation is a new permanent dean will be in place by July 1, 2010, Rice said.
Interim Dean Frank Houdek and wife Susan Tulis with Barbara Lesar at her 90th birthday celebration
Frank Houdek ... is a long-term member of the School of Law faculty and I believe he brings to the position both historical perspective and a vision of the future for the school.