Changes

SUSAN KRINSKY

Associate Dean for Student Affairs

As I’ve said to virtually anyone who has asked me (and to many who haven’t), my work with LSAC over the past (gulp) 30-plus years has been the highlight of my professional life. That is even more so for my time as chair. It happens that I find joy in getting to know and understand organizations and their relationships to other people and to other organizations. I may be a particularly slow learner, but it’s only now as I come to the end of my term as chair that I realize how much I learned in just the last two years, despite having been involved with LSAC for many years before that. I knew about the commitment to excellence and quality. I knew the names and the capabilities of the services and products LSAC provides and the commitment to access and diversity that are a hallmark of this organization. But I’m not sure I understood the complexity of almost everything LSAC does or what it takes to be able to make important changes.

This has been a time of great change for LSAC, with events that we neither anticipated nor wished for. A day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about Dan Bernstine and wish that I could talk with him and hear his advice. Unfortunately, that’s not a choice any of us were given. I have felt privileged and honored to be on the front lines as many changes took place and continue taking place. Our partnership with Khan Academy has the potential to be a game-changer for test takers who cannot afford or choose not to take a commercial prep course. Our recent decision to increase the number of test administrations will make the process of applying to law school easier for both test takers and our law school members. And we continue to explore other ways of delivering the LSAT—which, I probably don’t have to remind this audience—is the gold standard for testing the kind of critical reasoning skills that students need to succeed in law school. Our new president and CEO, Kellye Testy, is the right person at the right time to lead LSAC. We are very fortunate that Kellye accepted this challenging and exciting role, and I, for one, cannot wait to see how her visionary leadership translates into an even more terrific LSAC. I am grateful that I have one more year on the Board as past-chair and that I’ll have the opportunity to watch as Kellye and our new Board chair, Chris Whitman, navigate through the ever-changing environment in which we find ourselves. Stay tuned!

Thank you to all of you who offered words of encouragement and understanding during my time as chair. I’m not sure there’s anything I can say that will adequately convey to Thorny Steele the depth of my gratitude for his willingness to step in at a critical moment to lead our extraordinarily capable and resilient staff. And I thank LSAC’s staff for providing the kind of support that I could never have imagined existed, but against which I’ll always measure others.

One more thing: get involved with LSAC at whatever level is comfortable for you. Not too long ago, one admission professional mentioned that she wasn’t really trained for the work she’s doing, but just grew into it. That comment led to our recent boot camp for senior admission professionals and the upcoming summer workshops for midlevel professionals. That’s just one small example of how you can make a difference. This is your organization, and it’s your ideas and needs that give the organization direction. I think you’ll find the experience as rewarding as I have.