Dean Maureen O’Rourke Elected to Access Group Board of Directors
Access Group works to further access to and the affordability and value of legal education.
Dean Maureen A. O’Rourke has been elected to the board of directors of Access Group, a nonprofit serving the needs of its 197 member nonprofits and ABA-accredited law schools.
Founded in 1983, Access Group, Inc. works to further access, affordability, and the value of legal education, specifically, and graduate and professional education more broadly, through research, policy advocacy, and direct member and student educational services.
“I am honored to join the board of directors and the Access Group staff in their efforts to make legal education more accessible,” says O’Rourke. “In a constantly changing legal marketplace, it is important that we continue to focus on preparing our students for the challenges that lie ahead, which is at the heart of their mission.”
As a member of Access Group board of directors, O’Rourke will work with the other board members, several of whom are law school deans and/or educators, to develop a strategic plan addressing the challenges facing member schools and their students. In recent years, leadership has focused on member services activities, financial education and resources, research, and advocacy funds. Since 2001, the organization has funded more than $18 billion of education loans.
Along with Dean O’Rourke, Access Group also announced the election to the board of Austen L. Parrish, dean and James H. Rudy Professor of Law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
“Access Group works to meet the ever-changing challenges and needs of our member law schools, and the graduate and professional school community at large. Deans O’Rourke and Parrish will be valuable additions to the experience and dedication of the board of directors and will further enhance our ability to address the critical issues facing legal education,” stated Hannah R. Arterian, Access Group’s board chair and dean and professor of law at Syracuse University College of Law. “I am grateful for their willingness to serve and look forward to working with them.”
As dean, O’Rourke has focused on improving the BU Law student experience to keep pace with changes in legal education. She has also taken an active role in the larger conversation about the evolution of law schools and the new legal marketplace. She currently serves on the ABA Council to Section of Legal Education and was the former co-chair of the Boston Bar Association Task Force on the Future of the Legal Profession. Recently, she participated in a webinar with a panel of leaders in the law brought together by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute to discuss training the next generation of lawyers.
Dean O’Rourke was named one of National Jurist’s 25 most influential people in legal education and to the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, which recognizes the most prominent names in the legal profession.