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Regents
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1415 Murfreesboro Road, Suite
350
Nashville, TN 37217
Phone (615) 366-4400 Fax (615) 366-4464
Press Release
University of Memphis Leadership Institute in Judicial Education Wins Academic Excellence Award
Program Provides Continuing Education to Judges and Other Court Officials
Contact: Mary Morgan, Tennessee Board of Regents; 615.366.4414
Nashville, Tennessee, September 17, 2002-The Tennessee Board of Regents on September 20 will present its prestigious Academic Excellence and Quality Award to the University of Memphis Leadership Institute in Judicial Education (LIJE). The Institute, founded in 1989, is one of the nation's two longest-running programs funded by the federally funded State Justice Institute to improve the quality of justice in state courts. The LIJE functions under the direction of Dr. Patricia Murrell, Director for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Memphis, and has received three prestigious national awards.
The LIJE operates a yearlong program attended by teams of nominees from state court systems. Participants include judges as well as court managers, with the Basic Institute lasting six days and offered at the University of Memphis. It includes plenary sessions, small group sessions, and team sessions that include both theory and practice of judicial functions. When participants return home, they invite 25-30 local individuals to engage in an On-Site Institute at which the program participants, under the leadership of LIJE faculty, share their experience by training others. Finally, each team returns to Memphis for an Advanced Institute, at which time each team presents its work to the entire class and provides feedback on the usefulness of the program.
The purpose of the LIJE program is to create a more unified and informed judiciary and ultimately to improve the quality of justice in state courts. As a result of the LIJE, progress has been made toward a more organized and networked judicial education organization, centered on an increasingly strong professional organization of state judicial educators.
According to Regent Stanley Rogers, chair of the Committee on Academic Policies and Programs, and a practicing lawyer, "This is an outstanding example of the public service activities our universities and colleges undertake. This program is having a real impact on the quality of justice in our state and our nation. Two teams from Tennessee have been through the program, and it has made a significant difference in the state's court system. Professional development is perhaps even more important for judges than for those in other disciplines, since there is no requirement of legal training or a legal background for judicial office-holders in many states."
The Academic Excellence and Quality Award is given quarterly by TBR to an outstanding program in a TBR institution. Previous winners include the Clarksville-Montgomery County Geographic Information Systems Center (CMC-GIS), housed in the Department of Geology and Geography at Austin Peay State University; the Business Media Center at Tennessee Technological University; the Community Partnership Program at East Tennessee State University; the Prevention Center at the University of Memphis, and the discovery of a new planet by the Astronomy Project at Tennessee State University.
The Tennessee Board of Regents is the nation's sixth largest higher education system, governing 45 post-secondary educational institutions. The TBR system includes six universities, 13 two-year colleges and 26 technology centers, providing programs to over 180,000 students in 90 of Tennessee's 95 counties.
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