Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE - Twenty-four University of Kansas law professors and professors emeriti have honored the outgoing dean of the School of Law and his wife, an assistant professor of engineering, by establishing a scholarship in their names, Provost David E. Shulenburger announced today.
The group gave more than $13,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association to endow the Michael H. Hoeflich and Karen J. Nordheden Scholarship in Law Fund. The scholarships will help deserving students at the KU School of Law.
"We were surprised and delighted with this scholarship," Hoeflich said. "There is nothing more important to me professionally than my relations with my colleagues and my students. There is nothing the faculty could have done that would have pleased us more. We're very grateful."
Shulenburger emphasized the rarity of the gift.
"The scholarship gift made by law colleagues of Mike and Karen is both a rare gesture and a most logical tribute to their interest in student education and welfare," Shulenburger said. "I'm very pleased on their behalf and on behalf of the School of Law."
Hoeflich is the John H. & John M. Kane professor of law. He received a bachelor's degree in history, religion and classical civilization and a master's degree in medieval history and canon law in 1973, both from Haverford (Pa.) College. He received a second master's degree in 1976 from the University of Cambridge, England, and graduated from Yale Law School, New Haven, Conn., in 1979.
He worked for one year as an associate at the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City before going to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Law, where he taught for seven years. In 1988, he was named dean and professor of law and history at the Syracuse (N.Y.) University College of Law. Six years later, he became dean and professor at the KU School of Law. In 1997, he was named the John H. & John M. Kane professor of law, and in June 2000, he stepped down as dean to return to full-time teaching at the school.
Nordheden received a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University, East Lansing, in 1980. She received a master's degree in 1984 and a doctorate in 1988, both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She spent six years at GE Aerospace, Liverpool, N.Y., before coming to KU to teach in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering.