Albany Law School announced today that President & Dean Thomas F. Guernsey will step down from his position on June 30, 2011, when his contract ends. Guernsey served as the School’s Dean for nine years – more than twice the national average length of service for law school deans.
“Holding this position has been a great privilege,” Guernsey said. “During my time here, we have all worked together — faculty, students, staff and alumni — to take Albany Law to new heights in academic excellence and fiscal stability. My hope is that by letting the Board know of this decision well in advance, the [law] school will have enough time to conduct a comprehensive search for my successor and seamlessly appoint a new leader.”
Named the 16th Dean of Albany Law School in 2002, Guernsey previously served as dean of Southern Illinois University School of Law. Before that he was associate dean and professor at University of Richmond; the Honorable Abraham L. Freedman Fellow and Lecturer in Law at Temple University School of Law and instructor of law at Vermont Law School.
Some of Guernsey’s achievements include creating a new Center for Excellence in Law Teaching; increasing the recruitment of students at the national level, resulting recently in over half the student body coming from out of state and improved campus facilities and the student experience outside the classroom.
