Awarded Grants

Research grant awarded to Nicholas Bowman, Professor at University of Iowa’s College of Education, to examine factors that predict changes in enrollment and graduation of students from marginalized racial groups at U.S. law schools.

Dissertation grant awarded to Chad Losee, Ed.D. candidate in Higher Education Management at University of Pennsylvania, to better understand factors related to the aspirations to pursue a top-ranked graduate degree (e.g., MBA).

The study seeks to explore whether remediation of reading disfluency at the law school level will have a positive impact on reading comprehension ability – particularly in “at risk” students. For purposes of this study, the definition of “at risk” students are students with weak LSAT scores. This project builds on their 2017 empirical study examining a possible link between oral reading disfluency and reading comprehension ability in first-year law students.

The project will assess interventions aimed at improving student success and first-time bar passage through a two-phase project funded by AccessLex. The data collected and reported to AccessLex through this grant project will help determine the impact and success of interventions in overcoming barriers to student success and first-time bar exam passage.

The project seeks to identify law schools that consistently overperform—and underperform—on their expected bar exam passage rates, controlling for the quality of the students they accept. The project plans to examine which state bar exams law graduates take and the difficulty of those bar exams. The project will also determine the school-specific characteristics leading to overperformance among law schools that consistently beat their estimated bar passage rate by interviewing deans at these law schools.

The Weekend Prep Program will support college graduates of diverse and/or disadvantaged backgrounds in their pursuit of a law degree. Participants will receive resources on the law school admissions process, including a comprehensively designed LSAT Prep course, motivational and informational workshops, and individualized advisement. The program will last 24 weekends specifically targeting college graduates who work full-time and/or have family obligations, plus college seniors.

This grant will comprehensively evaluate whether the adoption of rgw Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) has positively influenced enrollment and Bar passage rates of underrepresented and minority students in law schools located in participating states. It will also measure the extent to which (a) tuition and fees costs and costs of living, (b) interstate employment mobility, and (c) overall employment prospects of graduates from participating schools and states varied given the adoption of UBE.

This grant will measure the outcomes of students in the BA Law program and compare those outcomes to students in other fields at the University of Arizona through surveys and archival data to document students’ success in their programs, career aspirations, preparedness for continuing higher education, and sources of information and advice. Results will be used to better understand what, if anything, is valuable and distinctive about the BA Law experience as a preparation for the JD, as well as provide Latina students an even more engaging experience by offering additional support and preparation through a specialized mentor and training seminar.

The Sponsorship, Research and Challenge Directed Grant is a multi-component project, including a $25,000 sponsorship for the Law School Deans’ workshop/forum at the AALS Annual Meeting, $225,000 for the Study of the American Law School Dean, and a $25,000 Challenge Grant. The project will survey the process by which individuals are recruited and selected for deanship at American law schools, as well as identify the most challenging issues facing law deans today.

Read more about the Research and Challenge Directed Grant.