Reflecting on a new adventure
After sixteen years of teaching on the Richmond Law faculty, Kristen Osenga stepped into a new role this year as associate dean for academic affairs. As the school year comes to an end, Osenga, professor of law and the Austin E. Owen Research Scholar, reflects on her first year of leading the law school's academic endeavors.
Explain your role as associate dean for academic affairs.
I’m in charge of the law school operations that are academic. I get to schedule courses, oversee grading, and ensure that our grading policies are met. I hire and work with adjunct professors, help track academic statistics that are reported to the ABA, work with the faculty to update academic policies, and meet with student who have academic concerns. It feels like I do a lot more than that, but those are the primary components.
How has this role differed from your previous experience as a professor?
My primary duties as a professor were to teach courses and do research & write scholarship. Entering into administration, I still do those things, but I get to add all of the operations pieces. It definitely keeps me busy! But even before I became associate dean, I held other roles besides professor. I served as chair of the law school’s promotion & tenure committee for many years, and I was also president of the University Faculty Senate. Both of those roles gave me insight and skills that I am using in my current role, such as consensus building and valuing clear, transparent processes.
What do you hope to accomplish in your new role?
I stepped into this role during a time of transition. My predecessor, Professor Jack Preis, did a magnificent job of navigating the law school through the difficult years of the pandemic. But now, as we’re seeing many things return to “normal,” I feel like it’s my responsibility to help bring the law school to this new (old) time. I want us to be able to go back to a lot of what was great in 2019—when folks were always in the building and there was a lot of energy and collaboration and camaraderie. But I also want to make sure we keep some of the things we learned during the pandemic, like being able to use Zoom to bring in speakers that aren’t able to come to Richmond. While Zoom is not the best tool for teaching, it has so many other possible uses. I would view my time in this role as a success if I can navigate us to the best of both worlds—pre- and post-Covid.
What surprises have you experienced in this position?
Not really a surprise, but this role provides me the opportunity to talk to even more students than I did when I was a professor…and every time I talk to students, I learn just how interesting they are! Some of them did amazing things before law school; some of them are facing wild challenges in law school and beating all the obstacles; some of them have really cool hobbies. I just love having the chance to learn more about students than what their transcript shows. I’m not surprised at how diverse and interesting our students are, but this job has surprisingly given me the opportunity to see it even more.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of this position?
Problem solving! I’m definitely a problem solver at heart and this job gives me a chance to find solutions daily. Whether it’s helping a student avoid a registration snafu or a professor working with a student facing a difficult situation, or even just me trying to figure out how to update our policies in our new, post-Covid world, every day presents a new set of problems to address—and I love it!
What has been your biggest challenge?
This job is so varied. I think a big challenge is just figuring out what I don’t know needs to be done. I’m lucky to have had all three previous associate deans—Professors Clark Williams, Jim Gibson, and Jack Preis—here to help me out. I've called on each of them at various points this past year for advice, and they’ve all been so generous. But I can’t ask them for help if I don’t even know what I don’t know…so that’s been the biggest challenge.
What's on the horizon as you look to your second year?
Next year is all about the self-study in advance of the ABA accreditation visit the following year – so I know that a lot of next year is going to be a deep dive into what we’re doing and what we could be doing better. I’m pretty excited about that. Also, this year was kind of like drinking from a firehose and just hoping that nothing was falling completely through the cracks. I’m hoping that with a year under my belt, I’ll actually be able to focus on some of the aspects of the job that I’m excited about – like scheduling and making that work as well as possible for our students and faculty. This year, it all felt like a scramble – but it got done and I didn’t break anything…I think?!?!
Anything else you’d like to add?
I am so excited to be doing this job! I love the strategy, the consensus building, the puzzle solving, and working closely with my faculty colleagues and our students. And I also love talking to people—especially students. Thanks for asking me these questions so I could share these things with you!