Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
I am blown away by the School of Law's emphasis on development of professional identity, which is often overlooked at other schools.
Endowed faculty positions are more than a title.
They're an investment in our tremendous faculty, strengthening their connection to the University and, in turn, to our students.
"I am extremely proud of and always impressed by Creighton’s students," said Victoria Haneman, the Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates. "And I am blown away by the School of Law's emphasis on development of professional identity, which is often overlooked at other schools."
Haneman teaches the subjects that, initially, make students groan: trusts, estates, death, taxes. But she often takes her students by surprise, animating the curriculum to a degree that, by the end of the semester, a few of those one-time groaners now identify as future tax lawyers and estate planners.
"That moment," she said, "that's the most exciting part of what I do."
R. Collin Mangrum, JD, another endowed faculty position-holder in the law school, sees his greatest achievement as the success of his students. And that's a lot of students with a lot of success. Mangrum, the AA and Ethel Yossem Endowed Chair in Legal Ethics, has taught at Creighton for more than 40 years.
Mangrum is a prolific and accomplished writer — his "Mangrum on Nebraska Evidence," for instance, serves as a primary source for practitioners. But he said he never lets his publishing get in the way of his calling: "Teaching students how to be effective and ethical trial attorneys."
In his classes, such as Advance Trial Practice or Scientific Evidence, Mangrum offers an intensive, hands-on experience, putting theory into practice and getting his students into courtrooms and trial competitions.
"In Mangrum's class, you didn’t just show up and regurgitate the text you read the night before," said a former student, Douglas County Juvenile Court judge Chad Brown, JD'02. "He taught you to think. He taught you how to deconstruct a set of facts, and to work that set of facts over and over. And after he taught you, you were able to try a case beginning to end. That's a real big-picture education you're getting."
Today, when attorneys walk into Brown's courtroom, he can quickly spot which were taught by Mangrum.
They're the ones who are most prepared.
WHY ARE ENDOWED FACULTY POSITIONS IMPORTANT?
School of Law faculty go above and beyond to ensure that our students are practice-ready by graduation. But our extraordinary faculty do more than form quality lawyers; they educate men and women in the Jesuit tradition, instilling a lifelong value of working for and with others.
Your generosity helps us to build and foster our excellent faculty, as they continue to educate multiple generations of attorneys and judges — each ready, and fully prepared, to transform our world.
