University of Hawaii alumnus Jay H. Sidler donated $1 million to launch the Deans Innovation Fund. This will allow UH Law School Dean Camille Nelson to bring an innovative approach to legal education that drives business.
“Lawyers, business people, philanthropists, advocates and communities are all looking to challenging moments and opportunities right now,” Nelson said in a press release. Given that we didn’t even have irreplaceable tokens, cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, big data, privacy, cybersecurity, healthcare, constitutional discord, etc., we’re not even talking about it in the law school. and we are still trying to understand the legal role and implications.
Law schools are not considered innovation hubs or labs, but lawyers must be creative, increasingly entrepreneurial and innovative to meet the challenges of the future, Nelson said. said.
Shidler graduated from UH Business School in 1968 and received a $25 million endowment in 2006 to name the business school after him.
After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he now founded The Shidler Group, which invests equity and debt capital in U.S. commercial real estate and portfolios and establishes and capitalizes new real estate affiliates. Shidler is also the founder and chairman of five public companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which collectively have issued him more than $14.5 billion in debt and equity.
Shidler said of the new innovation fund: These organizations are constantly innovating and changing, and lawyers need to keep up. Law school is what makes them, so it’s appropriate to reflect innovations happening in the real world and use some of them to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching. “
Recognizing that law impacts nearly every aspect of life and that society continues to evolve, Deans Innovation Fund provides insight into how legal education can reflect and respond to those changes. We can help you anticipate change with an enlightened leader, professor, or student.
The William S. Richardson UH School of Law, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year, will build on its achievements since its inception with the unique opportunity to lead and participate in these important conversations and shape leaders of the legal profession and beyond. in a position.
Under the direction of the dean, the new funding could be used to help law schools reach potential students and faculty.
Some of the conversations enabled by the gift consider issues of ongoing social change, social justice, and equity, and how we are Americans, the disparities between us, and what controls us. It helps refocus the debate about the laws that do, and who writes them as a community.
Siddler’s donation to UH Law School contributes to 2017’s landmark donation of $117 million and grand lease to Siddler College of Business, which has the potential to generate at least $7.2 billion over the lease term It’s what follows. His philanthropic history at the University of Hawaii has totaled $228 million since 2006. Deans His Innovations The donation to create his fund stems from Nelson’s vision and his desire to make his School even more relevant through his leadership.
“From this donation, we are betting that innovation will emerge with significant economic and educational impact,” Sidler said. “I trust her.”
