NEWS B R I EFS
Professor Jeffrey Standen, Daniel P. Santos JD’86 Named Associate Deans One face is new, the other familiar: Sports law Professor Jeffrey Standen and longtime gubernatorial advisor Daniel P. Santos joined the law school’s administrative team this summer. Standen will serve as associate dean for faculty; Santos will be associate dean for student affairs and administration, working closely with the Office of Career and Professional Development and the admissions office. Standen joined the law school as a professor in 1990. A graduate of Georgetown University, the London School of Economics and the University of Virginia Law School, he served as deputy general counsel to the U.S. Sentencing Commission in Washington, D.C.
Daniel P. Santos grew up picking crops in California’s Imperial and San Joaquin valleys. He didn’t need to work the fields for his family to survive; his father made him do it so he’d develop a work ethic. Everything he’s done since then, Santos said, “is a piece of cake compared to hoeing cotton.” Santos graduated from Southern Oregon University (where his exposure to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival blossomed into a lifelong love for the theater and, much later, membership on the festival’s board) and Willamette University College of Law. A veteran of more than two decades of politics, he served as a senior policy advisor for Governor Ted Kulongoski, working on issues including tribal relations, collective bargaining, housing, workforce, education and military services.
At Willamette, Standen has gained recognition as a sports law Professor Jeffrey Standen professor. He runs a nationally known blog, “The Sports Law Professor,” thesportslawprofessor.blogspot.com. The law school’s faculty was recently ranked as the top Oregon law school in per capita faculty publications in top journals. Standen said he wants that trend to continue and also wants to promote excellence in teaching. Willamette’s faculty members take on multiple roles and are expected to excel at all of them, he said. “A professor here has to be capable in the classroom, make a contribution in scholarship, and have a hand in running the place,” Standen said. “Our faculty wear a lot of different hats, and they do so not only with willingness, but with a great deal of skill.”
Daniel P. Santos
In Governor John Kitzhaber’s first administration, Santos served as legal counsel and education policy coordinator and worked on juvenile and adult criminal justice issues. He was legal counsel for Governor Barbara Roberts and chair of the Oregon Parole Board, and served as deputy citizens’ representative and director of the Commission on Agricultural Labor for Governor Neil Goldschmidt.
Santos, who was president of the Student Bar Association while he was at Willamette, wants to improve student access to services the school offers. His contacts in state government also will be helpful to students searching for jobs and externships. “One of the best things about law school is to come away with a set of colleagues and friends that you can go to work with,” he said. “What I’d like to work on is to enhance an atmosphere where it’s more comfortable and less stressful so that you can develop those relationships.”
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