Marty Peters, professor of legal education at Elon University School of Law, has completed a yearlong term as chair of a national legal organization.
Peters, who came to Elon from the University of Iowa, was chairwoman of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Academic Support, a position she assumed in January 2006. As leader of the section, Peters was responsible for overseeing and contributing to the organization’s newsletter and for initiating and assisting the section’s program planning for the organization’s annual conference.
The Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) Section on Academic Support draws its membership from faculty, administrative staff, and program directors whose teaching and advising assist law students as they make their transitions to law study, adapt their study methods for success in law school, and prepare for the legal profession. The organization draws members from law schools across the country.
“People who work in academic support tend to share a number of values,” Peters says. “Among the most basic is a commitment to increase the diversity in law schools and the legal profession through leveling the academic playing field by making the process of learning law transparent and by developing active, engaged teaching and learning methods to reach all learning styles. These interests result in programs for the AALS section that have broad appeal among law professors and lead to lively, well attended programs.
“While these interests and values are shared by some colleagues at most law schools, the faculty commitment at Elon University Law School to apply learning theory and engaged teaching methods to all classes, makes academic support and doctrinal teaching a seamless process. This collaborative process creates a classroom experience that enhances teaching and learning for both students and faculty,” Peters says.
As 2007 past-chair, Peters will continue her work with the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Academic Support.