Strategic Plan 2003-2008

1. School of Law Profile
   1. Executive Summary. The mission of the University of South Carolina School of Law, in light of its special obligation as the only law school in the state, is to provide broad access to a high quality legal education and prepare graduates for highly competent performance in private practice, public service and private business; conduct research and publish significant scholarship on legal and policy issues of national, regional and state importance; and provide service to the legal profession, government and private business.
      1. The goal of the School of Law in the next five years is to become significantly stronger with quality comparable to the region's strongest public law schools. Building on progress in the last five years, the major goals of the School of Law will be stronger scholarly productivity, elevation of the law library to a major research facility, a new building, students with greater academic potential and diversity, increased support from external funding sources and continued excellence in teaching and service.
      2. For the 2003-04 academic year, important objectives for the School of Law will be to recruit several diverse faculty members with a demonstrated commitment and potential for outstanding scholarly productivity, secure additional state bonding authority for a new physical facility, secure additional external funding to support the mission of the school, enroll students of high academic potential and strengthen the law library.
   2. Mission Statement: The school's mission, included in the executive summary, furthers the university's goal of becoming a major research institution by emphasizing significant research and scholarship and continued excellence in teaching and community engagement through strong service. The School of Law, as the only law school in South Carolina, makes a unique contribution to the University as the only provider of significant research and scholarship on legal issues and the only provider of lawyers for the state's growing legal profession. Many of the school's graduates become leaders in the legal profession with distinguished careers in national, state and local public service. The School of Law, through its library and the many service activities of faculty and professional staff, provides major service to the state's legal community and government which would otherwise not be available.
   3. Statistical Profile
      

      1.	School of Law Total Budget:	$9,783,357
      2.	Total Extramural Funding:	$1,295,397
      3.	Gifts and Pledges Received:	$3,047,578
      4.	Number of J.D. Degree Applications:	1578
      5.	Number of J.D. Admissions:	278
      6.	Number of Majors (J.D.)	720
      7.	Number of Students Enrolled	720
      8.	Number of Graduates: Fall, 2001	9
      	Spring, 2002	217
      	Summer, 2002	1
      9.	Total Credit Hours: Fall, 2001	9979
      	Spring, 2002	10009
      	Summer, 2002	320
      10.	Number of Faculty: Professors	23
      	Assoc. Professors	10
      	Asst. Professors	5
      	Research Faculty	0
      11.	Publications: Books	12
      	Book Chapters	6
      	Articles	55
      12.	Paper Presentations: Academic	28
      	Professional	91
      13.	Number of Performances:	N/A
      14.	Extramural Funding by Type: Research	$355,840
      	Service	$939,557
      	Training	0
      	Equipment	0
      	GA	0
      15.	Research Collaborations with MUSC & Clemson	0

   
   
2. Progress Report on AY 2001-2002 Plan
   Progress on meeting the School of Law's strategic goals for 2001-2002 is as follows:
   • Goal 1: Obtain Financial Commitment for New Law School Facility.
     There has been some progress here. Approximately one-third of the funds ($17 million) to construct the new facility has been secured. The General Assembly has approved $10 million in bonds and over $7 million has been pledged privately. An additional $20 million in bonds is needed for the facility. Legislative leaders have committed to this amount when the state's fiscal condition recovers. Private fund raising efforts continue.
   • Goal 2: Improve Law Library to Level Comparable to Top Tier Major Legal Research Facility.
   • There has been no sustained progress toward this goal. Recurring budget cuts have actually reduced library base funding below 2001 levels. Technology support, a part of the mission of the library, is at an unacceptably low level.
     Goal 3: Complete Curriculum Review.
   • This goal has been met. The School of Law has completed an exhaustive study of its curriculum and hiring needs for the next five years and has established hiring priorities.
   • Goal 4: Hire High Quality New Faculty.
     There is demonstrable progress here. The new faculty added last year were of extraordinary quality. As additional new hires replace retiring faculty, the scholarly potential of the faculty will increase.
   • Goal 5: Increase Quantity and Quality of Faculty Scholarship.
     The quantity of faculty scholarship has increased since 2001-02, as have the number of placements in leading journals. Research grant awards are also up. Teaching and service remain consistently high.
   • Goal 6: Improve Academic Credential of Students.
     The academic profile of entering students improved marginally last year and indications are that it will improve again for the 2003 entering class. Applications for admission are near our historic peak.
   • Goal 7: Expand Information Technology Capabilities.
     The school has expanded its ability to conduct internet and distance learning classes from multiple international locations. Regular classes are now conducted between locations in Indonesia, Germany, Vermont Law School and USC. A wireless network has been installed and is working well, diminishing significantly problems with the wire network associated with asbestos in the building. Budget cuts, however, have affected the school's ability to replace aging equipment, hire adequate staff and pursue necessary new initiatives.
   
   
3. School of Law Goals: AY 2003-2004 Through AY 2007-2008.
   1. A new facility will be completed.
   2. The school will generate significantly greater revenue from private funds and external grants.
   3. Faculty scholarship productivity will be demonstrably higher, while maintaining teaching and service at high levels
   4. The law library will become a major research facility with adequate technology to support the school's research and teaching mission.
   5. Student academic credentials will increase.
   
   
4. Objectives, Indicators and Strategies for AY 2003-2004.
   • Goal 1: A new facility will be completed.
     Objectives, Indicators and Strategies for Goal 1.
     1. Legislative contacts will be maintained so that support continues for additional bond funds ($20 million) when the economy improves and another bond bill is enacted. The School of Law's administration will regularly meet with legislative leaders and key legislators to discuss the need for state bond support for a new law building and to maintain current commitments to support additional bonds.
     2. Private fund raising efforts for the new building will continue. Calls on prospective donors will continue. Campaign materials illustrating the design of the new building will be prepared in the next year.
   • Goal 2: The School of Law will generate greater revenues from private funds and grants.
     Objectives, Strategies and Indicators for Goal 2.
     1. The school will study a different mix of tuition and fees and specifically consider moving toward a 50-50 mix of tuition and fees while holding total revenue constant. Because of limited scholarship resources, a fee waiver approach for scholarships will be a more effective and feasible system than the current use of private resources as the exclusive method of funding scholarships. Since this approach would produce revenue loss from fee waivers, any tuition-fee structure would have to be set at a level to generate acceptable operating revenues after accounting for fee waiver revenue losses. Private funds not used for scholarships through this fee waiver system could be used to support other programs at the law school.
     2. Private fund raising efforts on raising unrestricted private funds will be increased to provide a greater portion of the law school's revenues. Annual unrestricted private gifts should increase at least 10% each year for the next five years.
     3. Faculty grants will increase. The school will better support and encourage faculty to seek grant funding for research projects, in order that indirect cost recovery can support a larger proportion of the school's operations. Grant funding should increase by 10% each year for the next five years.
   • Goal 3: Faculty scholarly productivity will be demonstrably higher while maintaining high quality teaching and continued high level of service.
     Objectives, Indicators and Strategies for Goal 3.
     1. All faculty will publish an article or its equivalent or deliver a scholarly paper on a regular basis. Each faculty member will be asked to submit a scholarship goals report at the beginning of the academic year, containing the faculty member's scholarly agenda for the year, including plans for research, publications and paper presentations. The school will focus its scholarship support resources (travel, research assistants, summer research support) on productive faculty. At the end of the academic year, faculty members will report to the dean on scholarship activities for the preceding year. The overall scholarly output of the faculty will continue to be monitored on an annual basis. More regular faculty scholarly colloquia will be help to encourage scholarship and foster stronger commitment to scholarly productivity.
     2. New faculty hires will have a demonstrated potential or record of scholarly productivity. Faculty hired to replace retirement vacancies will have potential to be highly productive scholars. Hires above entry level will have an outstanding scholarly record and, if full professors, have a national reputation.
     3. While increasing scholarly productivity, teaching will be maintained at its current high level. New faculty, through mentors, will be assisted in adjusting to teaching in a professional school and will have a reduced teaching assignment in their first semester. New faculty will be sent to a national conference on effective teaching for new law faculty. All faculty will be encouraged to attend university and law school colloquia on effective teaching. All faculty will be supported in the use of technology in teaching. The school will continue monitoring teaching effectiveness through student evaluations of all classes, peer evaluation of all untenured faculty and through bi-annual exit surveys of all graduates.
     4. A high level of service will be maintained. Professional service which will increase the reputation of the law school, both within the state and nationally, will be encouraged and rewarded. The school will actively support faculty service activities to professional groups and government. All faculty will be expected to report service activities annually.
   • Goal 4: The law library will be elevated to a major research facility.
     Objectives, Indicators and Strategies for Goal 4.
     1. Additional resources, approximately $350,000, will be needed to support the collection, staff and technology mission of the law library. Some of these additional resources may come from reorganization of the professional staff.
     2. The library will create a separate budget for technology support enhancement and staff.
     3. The library will restructure its professional staff. With continued pressure on financial resources, the assignment and responsibilities of professional staff will be restructured and cost savings reallocated primarily to technology.
     4. A comprehensive assessment of the future development of the collections, with emphasis on the balance between on-line and print resources, will be undertaken to determine possibilities for cost savings. Currently, law libraries must maintain both extensive on-line access to data bases and very large physical collections. Because of accreditation concerns and other issues such as lack of on-line availability of many important research treatises, the cost of collection development is accelerating. A study to determine the proper balance, especially for the future, may lead to cost effectiveness and better use of financial resources.
   • Goal 5: Student Academic Credentials Will Increase.
     Objectives, Strategies and Indicators for Goal 5.
     1. Recruiting efforts, especially for minority students, will be more aggressive. The school will develop a new student recruitment strategy, making more effective use of the internet, alumni representatives and faculty. New programs with historically black institutions, such as South Carolina State University, will be developed both to interest undergraduates in a legal career and raise the visibility of the School of Law. Success of these efforts will be monitored through LSAT/GPA profiles of applicants and in the number of minority applicants.
     2. Restructure scholarship resources to increase funds available for recruitment. Proportionately more of the school's scholarship resources will be devoted to merit based scholarship to attract outstanding applicants. Need based scholarship will be reduced.
        Faculty and administrative input in the development of goals, strategies and indicators was provided through consultations with the School of Law Executive Committee. The Executive Committee consists of elected faculty members and ex officio administrative members.
   
   
5. Resource Requirements for AY 2003-2004.
   • The School of Law needs $100,000 for next fiscal year toward its $350,000 longer term financial need to upgrade the law library. This $100,000 will be used to better support the library's information technology mission, specifically for needed hardware and software upgrades and for an additional staff support position in information technology. To help meet this need, grant overhead funds and extra revenues from a new summer abroad program in England will be dedicated to library technology needs. Additionally, the library will reorganize its professional staff position to provide cost savings against anticipated cuts in the collections and staff portions of the library budget. In light of anticipated budget cuts, the school may resort to increased enrollment to generate added revenues.
   
   
6. Assessment Plan
   1. Assessment Report for AY 2001-2002
      • The school's major assessment goal for students for AY 2001-2002 was to determine that the J.D. program provides a comprehensive education for students pursuing careers in law, business and public service. Assessment criteria were:
        • bar passage rate
        • placement success of graduates, in South Carolina and nationally
        • starting salaries of graduates compared to graduates of other schools
        • success of graduates in obtaining admission to top quality graduate programs
        • student satisfaction surveys on quality of program and teaching
      • To demonstrate the success of the J.D. program, students must indicate a high level of satisfaction with the program and high degree of success in bar admission and finding jobs at competitive salaries.
      • The school has an ongoing tracking program for all this information. The dean's office receives bar passage information for graduates from bar admissions offices throughout the country. The School of Law Career Services Office collects all information on job placement compensation and admission to graduate school. The dean's office also maintains comparative information from all other accredited schools on these areas from the American Bar Association. The dean's office also administers and collects data from a student satisfaction survey.
      • All assessments from AY 2001-2002 indicate the J.D. program is successful and is preparing students well.
      • Graduates are passing bar examinations here and in other states at a rate of above 85% on the first try, above the national average. Placement rates are above 90% within 6 months of graduation and compensation is nationally competitive with salaries of students of other schools. Over 90% of students applying to the best graduate programs (in tax, environmental law and business) are gaining admission. Student satisfaction surveys indicate a high level of satisfaction with the comprehensiveness of the J.D. program and quality of instruction (over 90% of students indicate the program is good, very good or excellent).
      • Assessments do not indicate any necessity for major change in the program.
   2. Assessment Plan for AY 2003-2004
      • The same assessment plan, objectives and methods of data collection will remain in use for AY 2003-2004. One assessment will be continued to get more information, specifically the extent of the correlation between LSAT scores of applicants and bar passage rates. The goal of this assessment is to determine whether there is a reliable correlation between LSAT scores and bar passage success, as opposed to academic success in law study.