Dean Jenkins Named President of Bates College; Will Conclude Service at Minnesota Law on June 30

Garry W. Jenkins, who has served as dean and William S. Pattee Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School since 2016, has been named the president of Bates College and will depart Minnesota Law on June 30.

Located in Lewiston, Maine, Bates College is one of the premier liberal arts colleges in the nation. Jenkins will be the ninth president of the 168-year-old college.

The University Provost’s office will appoint an interim dean for the Law School through the 2023-24 academic year as it conducts a national search for a new dean, according to a message from Executive Vice President and Provost Rachel T.A. Croson.  In her message,  Croson thanked Jenkins for his service, observing "Dean Jenkins has served both the Law School and the broader University with great distinction. As dean, his collaborative leadership significantly advanced the Law School as a world-class school for legal education with a global reputation, including sustaining the school’s ranking as a top-25 and a top-6 public law school."

In a message to the Minnesota Law community announcing his decision, Jenkins shared, "While I am excited and honored by this new professional opportunity, I can’t possibly convey in words my full admiration and gratitude to you, my friends and colleagues.  All of you have made my time here so meaningful and enjoyable. I will miss all of you, yet I will always be a member of the Minnesota Law community."  

Among his many accomplishments during his seven-year tenure as dean of the Law School, Jenkins:

Last fall, Minnesota Lawyer newspaper honored Jenkins with its Diversity & Inclusion Award. “This year’s entering class at the University of Minnesota Law School is the most diverse in the school’s history,” the publication noted in recognizing Jenkins. “That achievement summarizes the progress enabled by Dean Garry Jenkins’ focus on making diversity, equality, and inclusion efforts a priority.”

Jenkins sits on the governing boards of Haverford College, the Law School Admission Council, the National Women’s Law Center, Equal Justice Works, and the Guthrie Theater. He also chairs the deans’ steering committee of the Association of American Law Schools. By gubernatorial appointment, he currently serves as one of Minnesota’s commissioners to the Uniform Law Commission.

Prior to joining the Law School, Jenkins was associate dean for academic affairs and John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Professor of Law at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he was also director of the Program on Law and Leadership, a leadership education and development initiative that he co-founde

Before entering academia, Jenkins served as chief operating officer and general counsel of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, a $200 million-plus international corporate foundation. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was an attorney with the New York law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, where he counseled public charities and private foundations, formed and advised private investment funds, and negotiated mergers and acquisitions.

Jenkins earned a B.A. from Haverford College, a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Upon graduation, he clerked for Judge Timothy K. Lewis of the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.

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