After 10 years as dean of the NIU College of Law, Leroy Pernell is moving on.

Pernell will leave DeKalb after the fall semester to begin a new career as dean of the Florida A&M University College of Law in Orlando.

An interim dean will be appointed for the spring 2008 semester, and a permanent dean will be announced for fall 2008. There will be a national search to find the new dean, Alden said.

Pernell has been instrumental in diversifying the College of Law at NIU. The Princeton Review placed the college among the top 10 most diverse faculties from 2005 to 2007. Also, U.S. News and World Report ranked the college among the top national law schools in terms of having a diverse student body.

“Over the last decade, there has been a lot of success,” said Provost Ray Alden of Pernell’s tenure.

Pernell is an elected trustee of the Law School Admissions Council and the American Law Council and has participated in the accreditation of many law schools with the American Bar Association.

He has also been heavily involved in the clinical program, establishing the Zeke Giorgi legal clinic in Rockford. The clinic, which opened in 2001, allows students, under direct supervision, to provide legal services to persons who might not otherwise have access to legal representation.

“Dean Pernell’s work to establish and grow the clinic exemplifies the leadership he has shown, setting a course that has established the college’s commitment to public service law that has grown into one of its great strengths,” Alden said.

Though Pernell is excited about the new challenges he faces at FAMU, he is saddened to leave NIU behind.

“I have loved being dean here for the past 10 years because there has existed here a shared commitment to principles of fairness, access and positive change that has transcended ideological and political differences,” Pernell said.