Brian Pappas, dean of the School of Law at the University of North Dakota, has accepted the position of chancellor at Indiana University South Bend.

Pappas, who has been at UND since July 2022, plans to remain as dean of the School until June 30, 2025, when he will officially transition into his new role at IUSB. He was preceded as dean by Michael McGinniss, who currently serves as professor of Law and J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow on the UND faculty.

“Dean Pappas has been an outstanding leader here at the University of North Dakota, and his work on behalf of the UND School of Law has been instrumental in helping North Dakota’s only School of Law sustain and grow its service to the state and the region,” said Eric Link, vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Dean Pappas’s commitment to students, staff and faculty, and his unwavering belief in the power of deliberation, discussion and shared governance has been a great feature of his tenure here at UND. He will be an excellent Chancellor at Indiana University South Bend.”

Provost Link plans to launch an immediate search for the next permanent School of Law dean, with the goal of having them in place by July 1, 2025. More details on the search will be coming soon.

During Pappas’s time at UND, law students have maintained a 90+ percent ultimate bar passage rate, according to the American Bar Association. Pappas also has been committed to addressing North Dakota’s lawyer shortage, increasing the percentage of North Dakota first-year students from 40 to 48 percent. The School, under Pappas’s leadership, also is placing more students in positions across North Dakota through a reinvigorated career services office and increased scholarships and support from the Larson Foundation, which grants scholarships to North Dakota residents and stipends to students working in rural parts of the state. Furthermore, applications to the School of Law have risen 29 percent during his time at UND.

Pappas also increased support for students by adding a full-time student advisor and a full-time director of bar support and academic success. Financially, the School maintained a balanced budget during Pappas’s tenure, and the School moved to a three-year budgeting model to identify trends and future challenges more easily. This year the School of Law is on track to achieve its highest ever fundraising total thanks to a $1.75 million gift, the highest single bequest in its history.

In the past three years, the School also has expanded from a single clinical focus area in family law to four, adding housing discrimination, prison innocence, and business and nonprofit law.

The School also held numerous signature events during Pappas’s tenure, including a grand reopening of the renovated Gerald W. VandeWalle Courtroom, featuring Judge Ralph Erickson as the 2024 Rodney S. Webb Jurist in Residence, and honoring Polish Judge Igor Tuleya, who delivered the 2024 Oscar & Amelia Fode Memorial Law Lecture.

Last year, the School of Law was ranked by the U.S. News & World Report for the first time since 2018 and was recognized as the 32nd best legal writing program in the country. Under Pappas’s guidance, UND School of Law also was recently featured in the National Jurist’s Prel-Law Magazine as a “Best Value Law School” — remaining a Top 15 Law School (out of 200) for lowest tuition.

“It has been my honor to serve as the Dean at UND Law, where I am so proud that we provide students with access, quality, and affordability,” Pappas said. “Our accomplishments are thanks to our supportive bench and bar, our talented staff and faculty, and our amazing students.  When I started as the dean, I toured the state and visited all 53 counties to experience all the people and places that make North Dakota special. I learned it really isn’t about the journey or the destination, but the companions you meet along the way. It has been a privilege to work at UND and to live in North Dakota, and my family will truly remain ForeverUND.”

More about Brian Pappas

Before coming to UND in 2022, Pappas served as associate provost and associate vice president for faculty affairs and academic personnel at Eastern Michigan University.

Previously, Pappas also served as a faculty member in public policy and administration and directed Boise State University’s conflict management department. He also spent 10 years at Michigan State University’s College of Law as clinical professor, associate director of alternative dispute resolution, and director of the Conflict Resolution Clinic.

Pappas specializes in organizational development, conflict management, interdisciplinary collaboration and high-impact experiential learning. A frequent mediator and trainer, Pappas has trained thousands of mediators in court, community, business and government. He’s also a past chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Dispute Resolution and serves on the Mindfulness in Law Society board and on the board of the National Legal Mentoring Consortium.

Pappas holds a doctoral degree in public administration from the University of Kansas, an LL.M. in dispute resolution from the University of Missouri, a law degree from Wayne State and a master’s degree in public policy and bachelor’s degree in political science, both from the University of Michigan.