Wednesday, 5/21/97 Retiring Dean Prager gets high marks Alumna
admired for fund raising, community contributions
By Kathryn Combs Daily Bruin Contributor Receiving her law
degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1971, Susan Westerberg Prager
returned to serve as associate dean for three years before she was
appointed in 1982 to replace William Warren as dean of the UCLA
School of Law. Now, after nearly 15 years of service to the UCLA
Law School community, Prager announced in September 1996 that she
would soon be leaving her position. According to faculty at the law
school, she has earned a well-deserved rest. "She has had three
five-year terms and that is about all we can expect from one
(person)," said professor emeritus William Warren, who served as
law school dean for seven years prior to Prager’s appointment.
"It’s a terrible loss (because) she has been one of the most
successful law school deans in the United States," he said. "She
has maintained an atmosphere of friendliness and a supportive
attitude toward both the faculty and students. She has earned some
rest," Warren added. Prager, the first female law school dean in
the history of the University of California system, has been
revered for her efforts both as a student and faculty leader and as
an effective fund-raiser. Prager helped raise $14 million in
private funding to support the law school library addition. The
approximately $26 million renovation is set to be completed by
October 1997. "She has been everything you could possibly want in a
law school dean," said Professor David Sklansky, acting professor
with the UCLA School of Law. "She has been a wonderful community
leader, a terrific fund-raiser, and a wise and thoughtful
educational administrator … making the law school a diverse and
humane community," he said. "The UCLA Law School has a tradition of
combining diversity and a strong sense of community with a high
commitment to academic excellence,"Sklansky said. "Dean Prager has
been instrumental in helping the law school to combine those things
throughout her tenure." Prager, currently a professor of law as
well as dean, is well known for her "low conflict, high consensus"
style of governance and is said to be well-liked by both faculty
and students within the law school. "I consider it (her leaving) to
be a major loss to the law school. She’s been a terrific leader
both in terms of ideals and in terms of informal institution
building," said Professor Evan Caminker of the UCLA School of Law.
"She has been here for 15 years now and I think (she’s leaving)
because she knows that she has done all that she can do," he said.
"It is time for her to go on and meet other challenges," he added.
Admittedly, Prager, who may not be leaving until July 1, 1998, has
not really considered what she will do after leaving. "I have found
that issue very difficult to think about carefully while I have
been at this job," Prager said. "I don’t believe that people should
be in these jobs for life. I never intended to stay in this job as
long as I have," she added. "I think that I wanted to leave while
people still wanted me to stay," she said. While some have said
Prager is leaving because she did not receive the UCLA
chancellorship in February, Prager said she doesn’t plan to leave
UCLA, only her position as dean. "I’m not really planning to leave
UCLA. I think that that is one of the things that a lot of people
are confused about," said Prager, who is the fifth dean at the UCLA
School of Law. "I need some time to take stock and one very likely
and attractive possibility is (that I will) return to the faculty
… Every one of my predecessors has returned to the faculty,"
Prager said. "I don’t get to know as many students as I would like
(and) that’s one of the things that I miss, no longer teaching
those big classes. My short-term plans are certainly to return to
to the faculty." Far surpassing the average 3 1/2 year term of most
law school deans, Prager had nothing negative to say regarding her
departure. "It has been a fun job … (and) a great privilege," she
said. "Our law school prides itself on having a greater degree of
camaraderie that any other law school nationwide," said Caminker.
"We have managed to create a very warm and interactive environment,
and Dean Prager has been both a formal and informal leader in
helping to create that environment," Carminker commented. UCLA
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