South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 6, Ed. 1, April, 2008 Page: 1 of 8
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The Student Newspaper of South Texas College ofLaw
April 2008
Volume XXXX, Number 6
Dean Read set to retire in September
ByAngiePing
Staff Writer
Effective September 1,2008, Dean Frank
T. Read will be retiring from South Texas
College of Law, but he will always remain a
member of the STCL family.
"I'm going to miss South Texas. This has
been a wonderful place for me. I was dean for
eight years, and the last five years I taught here.
I will miss the students," said Read. "I'll still
be a member of the family, just dislocated.'-
The faculty and Board of Directors have
unanimously voted to award Professor Tom
Read the title President and Dean Emeritus
of South Texas College of Law. Read will be
moving to a new development in Ocala,
Florida with his wife after he completes his
last act as a member of the faculty, teaching
at the Cambridge program in England iff July.
"I'm turning 70 this summer so it seemed
to be a good time to retire. We have a lot of
grandbabies and lots we want to do. It's really
a personal decision, but now is a good time,"
said Read.
He and his wife have 21 grandchildren
combined all over the country, so one of then-
plans during retirement is to travel and visit
with them. He has no plans to spend all of his
retirement relaxing. Read will still serve on
boards and commissions and teach
occasionally as an adjunct professor. He also
will be doing a lot of foreign travel for the
American Bar Association.
Read, who recently authored a book, the
Lawyer Myth: A Defense of the American
Legal Profession with his friend Rennard
Strickland, has ideas for two or three more
books in mind. "My co-author and I have fun
writing so we will probably do a couple more
projects," Read said.
Read served as a Dean for five law schools
throughout a 29 year period, never taking
breaks; but during this long administrative
career, he never lost sight of the fact that the
students were important.
"I always taught when I was serving as
dean. I think this kept me close to the students.
Teaching has been fun. The five years have
been great," said Read. "Seeing the affect on
human life is a positive, great thing about
teaching."
"There have been many highlights and
many lowlights in my legal career. I have been
pleased at all five schools where I was Dean
with the faculty hired. I was pleased to get the
Fred Parks gift for the library and Treece
courtroom," said Read.
"During his time as Dean, many important
things were accomplished, including but not
limited to the following: we became members
of the Association of American Law Schools
(our learned society); funding was secured for
the Fred Parks Library and it was built;
funding was secured for the T. Gerald Treece
courtroom; and a wonderful array of foreign
study programs were developed. Tom Read
is a visionary. He was able to implement his
vision at South Texas, and we are much better
off because of it," said James J. Alfini,
President and Dean.
"Tom Read made it easy for me to be dean
at South Texas. He left the deanship with our
law school in great shape," said Alfini. "Tom
Read has also been a wonderful former dean
and faculty colleague. He is a great teacher,
as exhibited by the terrific evaluations he has
received from the students."
"Dean Read was one of the best professors
I have had, and that says a lot given the high
quality of the STCL faculty. He brought a very
rich and diverse lifetime of knowledge into
the classroom which will be misled," said
student Kevin Jones. "I am sorry to see him
retire, but he has definitely earned it. 1 hope
his retirement is as personally rewarding to
him as his professional life has been to the
rest of the legal profession. He was gracious
enough to autograph a copy of his new book
for me, and it will always occupy a place of
honor on my legal book shelf."
"We have all derived great benefit from
Tom Read's presence at South Texas College
of Law. He has left his mark on our law school
and will be deeply missed," said Alfini.
"STCL is in great hands. Alfini is a great
Dean—a superlative Dean," said Read.
Another Perspective: Two Prejudices
By Anne Clausen
Guest Writer
When I tell people that I am
an exchange student from
Denmark, they always tell me of
the sights and attractions that I
have to see while I'm here. They
don't realize that they are actually
part of the greatest attraction
themselves: The American
People. Who are they? All sorts
of stories and prejudices - good
and bad - about America and
Americans flourish in Europe -
and everywhere else in the world.
Here is one that I have found was
true and one false:
Recently I went to the County
Criminal Court in Houston to
watch a trial, no particular trial,
interesting. All the courts I went
to were empty, and finally I just
asked a woman if she worked
there and could direct me to a
courtroom where a trial was going
on. Turned out, she was a lawyer
who had just -finished a
proceeding. She not only directed
me to a courtroom, she actually
followed me down to the DA's
office to ask if there were any
trials to watch. When they
couldn't help us, she took the
elevator up and down with me in
search of a good trial. I repeatedly
told her that I didn't want to take
up any of her time, feeling a bit
self-conscious, but she said it was
no problem at all.
'I have had this happen to me
several times while I've been
here, and it surprises me every
time. In Denmark-or Europe as
a whole actually - people would
not be that accommodating with
their time. I don't know why -
maybe we feel busy - too busy to
deal with a stranger's problems.
Basically, I guess we think we
have enough problems to solve
without wonying about other's
problems as well, or maybe we're
just a little more shy and have
difficulties talking to people we
don't really know.
Americans often talk to people
they don't know for no particular
reason. You can get a talk while
you're waiting in line to get lunch,
or if you meet someone in the
library or with the sales person in
a store. To you it's jüst a friendly,
casual chat, and then you go your
separate ways. In Denmark, you
don't just do that. If you initiate a
talk with someone, you either do
it with a specific purpose, or you
have just begun an acquaintance
or a friendship. There is not much
'casual talk' in Denmark. A lot of
Americans think that their
reputation in the world is solely
bad. However, you also have a
reputation of being among the
friendliest and most open people
in the world. A reputation that
clearly holds up!
Aprejudice that doesn't hold up
has been the one about Americans
being lgun crazy'. In Europe most
countries have very strict laws on
gun control, and for most people
it is incomprehensible that anyone
would want to own a gun unless
they have something bad in mind.
I felt like that before I came here
then L found out that some of the
really nice and friendly people I
have met actually owned several
continued on pg. 2
s
100 Advocacy Wins pg. 1, Another Perspective, Part 2 pg. 2,
Letter from the SB A President, March Eichenbaum pg. 6
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Lewis, Tamara E. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 6, Ed. 1, April, 2008, newspaper, April 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144585/m1/1/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.