Alumni Association Home > Minnesota Magazine > Past Issues > 2006 > July-August 2006	Print View

Coming Home.

What a wonderful flood of memories and emotions are summoned by those words.

Some of you may have had the joyful experience of returning to a place that you loved—a place where you had grown personally and intellectually and developed many of your most deeply held values and beliefs. It’s a priceless experience, especially if, when you return to that place, you have the opportunity to share the knowledge, ideas, and experiences you have gained since you left.

That’s the wonderful opportunity that awaits me when, later this year, I return home to the University of Minnesota.

As I noted in this space several issues back, I have lived much of my life at the University—as an undergraduate student, a law student, a tenured faculty member, dean of the Law School, and as a University vice president. I changed the scenery in 1994 to begin a new chapter in my life, as executive director and chief operating officer of the American Bar Association (ABA), which, with more than 400,000 members, is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world.

With the ABA, I’ve had opportunity to provide leadership and help improve the administration of justice and expand the rule of law in this country and around the world. This has been an overwhelmingly satisfying and rewarding experience. But it’s time now for me to step down from the ABA and accept my invitation back home.

As the University’s newly appointed Everett Fraser Professor of Law in the coming school year, I plan to teach a course in which I’ll discuss with students the remarkable work American lawyers have done to bring the rule of law to struggling new democracies throughout the world. I also plan to teach a course to undergraduate students about the major cases that have shaped our nation over the past 200 years. In addition to my work in the classroom, I’ll serve as counsel to the distinguished law firm of Gray Plant Mooty.

It’s a joy to be coming home. And I invite each of you to do the same. The University once was your home. Perhaps, as with me, it was a place where you grew in immeasurable ways. Perhaps you’ve since grown apart from the University as you’ve pursued your own life’s path. But no matter where you are now, that path can always lead—metaphorically if not physically—back to the University of Minnesota.

The University is stronger than ever. Every day, U researchers make gains in finding the cures to devastating diseases. Thanks to the Minnesota State Legislature, this fall the Carlson School of Management will break ground on a long-awaited expansion to better serve undergraduate students, and in three years the football Gophers will play outdoors and on campus for the first time in 28 years. And under the inspired leadership of President Bob Bruininks, the University is positioning itself to elevate its standing as one of the top three public research universities in the world. These are golden times for the U. And with your help, we can move this remarkable institution to new levels.

The UMAA offers many ways to become active in the University or to increase your level of involvement. Serve as a student mentor; join the Legislative Network; or get involved with an alumni society, chapter, or interest group. I assure you that you’ll be enriched by the experience.