Frank D. Durand, associate dean for student affairs at the William S. Boyd School of Law, was selected as the Administrative Faculty Member of the Year for 2014. He has been a Rebel since 1998.
Your role at the Law School
I like to think of myself as an easily accessible resource for my students to help them deal with their academic and nonacademic challenges. I also have to administer and enforce policies.
I want students to know, "If you ever find yourself with a problem and you don't know who to go to, go to FDD."
How has your time as a law student at Stanford helped?
I think it helps me because I understand a lot of the difficulties people face in law school. I remember the experience very well. I came face to face with the fear of failure and self doubt that people deal with in law school. I did not particularly enjoy law school.
Practicing law
I did a couple of years at a law firm in Denver practicing environmental and natural resources law, which were great in the sense that they confirmed that that was not what I wanted to do in life. It's better to be able to decide that something is not what you want to do based on first-hand experience rather than on conjecture. Eventually I found a path that has turned out to be just fantastic for my professional happiness.
When I was in practice in Denver I met Veronica, the woman who was to become my wife, so I'm thankful every day for that job I hated.
Before UNLV
Before this I was working in Washington, D.C., as assistant dean for student affairs for the law school at George Washington University.
UNLV has...
Terrific colleagues. I've been very blessed to work with some tremendous individuals in my 17 years at Boyd. Special thanks to (founding dean) Dick Morgan, (associate dean) Christine Smith, and (executive assistant to the dean) Dianne Fouret, and to the late Rick Brown (founding director of the Wiener-Rogers Law Library). They were the folks who were here when I arrived. I could tell from early on working with those individuals they had a great vision of how things ought to run and they had the unique opportunity to implement that vision.
Things that surprised you about UNLV
How new the campus looked. Both my personal college experience as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico and my professional experience at GW were at schools that were more traditional looking. UNLV is both campus-like and urban.
The greatest surprise was that at the time there was a Chick-Fil-A in the Student Union. I was very sad the day that vendor pulled out.
Something you would like people to know about the Boyd School of Law
The thing I like the most is the culture that our students created here from the outset. Law schools have the reputation of being cutthroat -- each person for himself or herself. Our students have done a very good job from the beginning of creating a more collegial, cooperative community. I'm proud of that, of being part of a place where students work with each other as opposed to against each other.
Something people would be surprised to learn about you
I'm not comfortable with public speaking. People don't buy it (when I say that) because I do it a lot and I think I appear comfortable. I guess you get better at masking your insecurities.
A favorite movie
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I have a poster of it in my office showing the final scene. It provides a good education on the evolution of social mores. [SPOILER ALERT] All you see in the movie is the two of them emerging. (The image freezes) and then you hear the gunfire. (If the movie were made today) what we would have in graphic detail would be the obliteration of these two men -- in very graphic detail.
I'm pretty sure that as a young kid I saw it at a drive-in with my mom and dad and sister. There's something about that memory that has stayed with me.
A favorite book
The Milagro Beanfield War. I am a New Mexico boy. It does a tremendous job of describing accurately small town New Mexico life, and it has a terrific legal story line about water rights -- the tension between the little man and the developers.
What the People Nominating Him for the Award Had to Say
Jennifer Carr, director of the academic success program at the law school, and DeShun Harris, assistant director of the academic success program
"Frank is one of the first people to arrive at the law school and one of the last to leave; his availability and open door policy encourages students to drop by and talk with him. And they do stop by to talk, sometimes about serious matters like mental illness or a troubled home life, sometimes to share a joy or accomplishment like a new baby -- or job -- and sometimes just to have a pretzel and play a game of cribbage. Both students and colleagues are drawn to him, confide in him, and trust him because he has the uncommon ability to see through personalities and see the whole human being and his or her needs. By being able to make each person feel important, Frank is able to touch every student at the law school.
"The best way to describe Frank's abilities might be to share a comment a colleague made about Frank. 'He's like a black hole. You give him a problem and it just goes away.'"
