FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- Richard B. Atkinson has been named the 10^th dean at the University of Arkansas School of Law, beginning his two-and-a-half-year term Jan. 6, 2003.

Atkinson joined the law school faculty in 1975 and served as interim dean for the 1990-91 academic year. He succeeds Robert B. Moberly, who announced his resignation in October, effective Jan. 6, after serving three-and-a-half years in the post. Moberly will return to full-time teaching in the school in the spring.

Carol R. Goforth, Clayton N. Little Professor of Law, will serve as associate dean for academic affairs, succeeding Lonnie R. Beard in the post. James K. Miller will continue as associate dean for students, a post he has held since 1995.

"We are delighted that Professor Atkinson has enthusiastically stepped forward to accept this post," UA Chancellor John A. White said. "He is a highly regarded legal educator and his willingness to serve ensures continuity of leadership at the highest level of quality."

"Richard Atkinson is ideally suited to be the new dean," said UA Provost Bob Smith, the chief academic officer to whom deans report. "His record of service to the law school and the University is superior. He has demonstrated notable administrative and leadership abilities during his tenure at the University and enjoys the respect and admiration of colleagues in the school and among the state's law community.  Given his combination of strengths, I cannot imagine anyone more qualified for this key position."

Smith added that the University will begin a national search for the 11^th dean of the law school 18 months into Dean Atkinson’s term, in early January 2005.

"I am deeply appreciative of the confidence in me expressed by my colleagues, by Chancellor White and Provost Smith and by the students and alumni they consulted," Atkinson said. "I am honored by the opportunity to serve as dean of the law school for the next two-and one-half years. If I am even partially successful in meeting the daunting challenge of their expectations, it will be attributable to the pool of immensely talented people who have offered support.

"While their numbers are legion, I want to mention two in particular without whom I would not have wanted to tackle the job. Carol Goforth, who is typically two or three steps ahead of me in any discussion, and, on top of that, is wonderfully efficient at getting things done, has agreed to serve as associate dean for academic affairs. And with respect to an associate dean of students, Jim Miller is simply as good as they get. I am already working, with the full support of the University administration, to find additional funds for scholarships and for getting out the word about just how good a place this is for getting a legal education. In doing so, we hope to build on Jim’s recruiting success last year when applications were up a phenomenal 46 percent."

Atkinson received his A.B. from Duke University in 1966, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. In 1971, he received a master's degree in divinity from Yale University, and received a J.D. from Yale in 1974. He was admitted to practice in Georgia, became an associate with the law firm of King and Spalding in Atlanta and has been a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina, Emory University and Georgia State University.

Atkinson has been one of two faculty members selected by the graduate class to participate in the hooding ceremony at commencement virtually every year since its inception in the early 1990s. He has frequently been the chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee, given bar review lectures around the nation and also has received state-committee appointments by the governor of Arkansas, including serving a stint as chair of the Workers' Compensation Reform Commission. Atkinson’s primary teaching and research interests are in the areas of Property, Real Estate Transactions and Wills and Trusts.

"Against the advice of many of my friends," Atkinson noted, "I will continue to teach Property each semester. Teaching is too much fun for me to give up entirely."

"He (Atkinson) is one of the best teachers in the law school, and has won the Professor of the Year Award so regularly as to make the claim to being the best teacher," Robert A. Leflar Professor Bob Laurence wrote in a recent peer review report. "His service to the institution, as well, is extraordinary, and here I do not just mean his formal committee work. He is, himself, an exemplar of "community life." And he is one of the faculty members most fondly remembered by alums. As the years go by and his tenure lengthens here, I suspect that for many of our graduates, he is the University of Arkansas School of Law."

Long committed to improving healthcare in the community, Atkinson has been a member of the board of directors of Washington Regional Medical Center since 1980. Over the years, he has been chairman of the board twice and on Jan. 1, 2003, will once again assume that role. Atkinson is also a founding board member of the Northwest Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute (NARTI).

"The University is to be commended for selecting Professor Richard Atkinson to lead the law school as dean for the next two-and-a-half years," said Judy S. Henry, a 1984 graduate of the law school and partner at Wright, Lindsey & Jennings, L.L.P. in Little Rock. "The law school faculty and students will prosper under his leadership just as thousands of law students have benefited for many years from his dedication to superior teaching. This is a great day for the law school and the University system."