Dean's Letter, Spring 2022
Effective November 8, 2023, Concord Law School was renamed Purdue Global Law School.
Dear Students and Alumni:
Spring has finally sprung! Most of the country is enjoying some warm weather, and I hope you are able to take advantage of it and enjoy it. Things are “warming up” at Concord as well. I’m pleased to report some exciting developments and upcoming events.
Pursuit of Non-California Licensure Opportunities. Due to the pandemic putting online learning front and center in everyone’s lives, as well as the recent improvements in our bar pass rates, I believe the time is ripe to take another run at petitioning other states’ boards of bar examiners to allow our graduates to sit for their bar exams. Since we are a part of Purdue University, the most natural place to start is Indiana, and we have already begun laying the groundwork there. I hope to have positive news to report about our efforts in the coming months.
Los Angeles Reception and Swearing-In. It was wonderful seeing so many alumni, students, faculty, and staff at the Los Angeles reception in February. It was the first time the Concord community had come together in person in over two years. As a bonus, since Judge Mark Juhas, who teaches part time for us, was there, and alumna Julie Sun just happened to have her bar card on her, we did an impromptu swearing-in on the spot!
Purdue Day of Giving (PDoG). The next PDoG is Wednesday, April 27, 2022. All donations to this annual university-wide drive go to funding student scholarships. For the first time, there will be an option to designate your donation for Concord (rather than having to type it in a memo line). For the past three years, Concord has had the highest participation of any Purdue Global school relative to its size (we make up about 2% of the university).
This year, I’d like to see Concord make a greater number of donations than any other Purdue Global school in absolute terms. It’s an audacious goal, but we can do it. The minimum donation is only $10, and if you want to give more than that (it’s all tax-deductible), you can break it up into smaller chunks (e.g., five donations of $20 rather than just one donation of $100), and we receive credit for each donation. Concord is small but mighty. Please help me prove we can punch far above our weight class.
San Diego Alumni Mixer. We will be holding a mixer for Concord alumni on Wednesday, May 4, from 7 pm to 10 pm ET, on the rooftop patio of Pueblo Restaurant (consider it a pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration). Any alumni who can make it are welcome to attend. Please RSVP here.
Distinguished Speaker Webinar. Our next installment in the series will take place in June. We will feature Concord alum Conan Higgins, who was recently named by Lawyer Monthly as General Counsel of the Year. Please keep an eye out for an email invite and registration information in the coming weeks.
25th Anniversary—Save the Date. We will be having a weekend-long anniversary celebration in Southern California on Friday, February 24, through Sunday, February 26, 2023. More details about the venue and itinerary will follow as they become available. We will also be holding several smaller in-person events in other major cities throughout 2023. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!
Get Connected. We want to forge strong relationships with our alumni and facilitate our alumni connecting with each other. If you haven’t already done so, please add yourself to our Alumni Directory (or update your profile if it’s out of date). I also encourage you to join Concord’s Facebook Alumni Group and LinkedIn Group. The more alumni who join and post, the more active those groups will be.
Also, don’t forget that all Concord alumni (regardless of graduation date) can join the Purdue Alumni Association, which is powered by over 575,000 Boilermaker alumni.
Thanks and all the best,
Martin Pritikin