Jonathan Voigt

The University of North Dakota School of Law's mission is to educate students for professional legal service, explore legal issues relevant to North Dakota, attract a diverse student body, promote legal improvements, and further the university's goals. The curricular mission focuses on producing well-rounded, ethical legal professionals with skills for effective leadership. Key learning objectives include foundational knowledge, essential skills, ethics, leadership, and service to society. The administrative strategic plan supports the curricular mission by enhancing the educational environment, advancing a professional workplace, and implementing learning-focused student services. The diversity mission emphasizes equal opportunity and the value of diverse perspectives, with a policy to maintain a respectful community, provide a curriculum that promotes diversity, and reinforce the law school's role in the larger diversity community.

This meeting focused on updates regarding the design process for the law school building. Discussions included a teleconference with architects to review a tentative design process draft, plans for upcoming architect visits to the campus for information gathering and workshops, the development of a survey to gather stakeholder input, and the collection of room utilization data. Future architect visits and benchmarking trips were also discussed.

The meeting welcomed the committee members and thanked them for their contributions to the UND School of Law building project. An update on the School of Law capital project was provided, noting that a recommendation for an architectural firm had been made. The role of the Building Planning Committee (BPC) was discussed, emphasizing collaboration and communication with the university and architectural firm. The responsibilities of the Design Focus Teams (DFTs) were outlined, focusing on gathering input from law school constituents and developing design plan ideas. A budget was allocated for DFT meetings. Immediate next steps for the design phase were discussed, highlighting transparency and inclusiveness. Longer-term projections included creating construction documents, managing relocations, and mobilizing materials. The next meeting was to be determined after announcements regarding the architectural firm.