FIU law shouldn’t be a ‘silo,’ says new law dean

By: Lizandra Portal/Staff Writer

 

The FIU Law school has found their new dean to replace Alexander Acosta, who is now the secretary of labor under President Donald Trump ‘s administration.

Dean Antony Page came to FIU from Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indiana where he served as vice dean and as a professor of law.

While working as vice dean of McKinney, Page launched new interdisciplinary programs which he says he wishes to continue at FIU Law.

“I think there is more scope for interdisciplinary study here at the college of law,” Page said. “Disciplines tend to turn into silos and not necessarily talk as much to each other and… in law schools we have lots of courses which are law and psychology, law and psychiatry, law and social science [etc.].

It’s a very long list, but it’s tended to be sort of one-off courses, so I would like to see more cooperation with some of the other schools here on campus.”

Another focus for Page is the international aspect of the University.

“It’s Florida International University,” he said. “We have some fantastic professors with wonderful international connections doing a lot of work in international law.”

Being based in Miami, the gateway to Latin and South America and the Caribbean, Page said increased activity in the international arena would be desirable.

“In particular, additional international students I think would bring a richness to the law school,” Page said.

As the new dean of FIU Law, Page is assigned with the task of maintaining the high bar passage rate that has propelled the school to the top of the state.

“What we are doing here is not so much bar preparation as metacognition, by which I mean learning how to learn the law,” Page says. “My job as dean will be to make sure to support this and make sure that we continue to get those kinds of [positive] results.”

While working at McKinney, Page worked on a pipeline program that was an Indiana University supported effort that included LSAT preparation efforts to help students get into the law school.

“We’ll continue to seek out students who might not have otherwise considered law school,” Page says. “In terms of assistance with the LSAT, that typically hasn’t been something that law schools have done, but we are certainly open to the possibility.”

However, stakeholders would have to approve his ideas, he said, but since starting his position he has been on a “listening tour” to hear what those stakeholders want to see FIU Law’s future.

“I think the school is very well positioned to improve in a number of different ways and it’s already doing the core things very well and I am extraordinarily optimistic.”

 

Featured image retrieved from FIU Law Website