Dean Stephen Mazza celebrates 14 years as dean – the 5th longest serving law dean in the country
After more than 25 years at KU Law, with 14 of those years serving as dean, Stephen Mazza is eager to see what the future holds.
“I’m excited to continue the momentum we’ve developed in terms of the student success and faculty achievements,” said Mazza. “We want to solidify our standing as one of the best public law schools in the country.”
According to the Rosenblatt’s Deans Database, Mazza is currently the fifth-longest serving law dean in the country behind Chris Guthrie of Vanderbilt University, Kevin Johnson of University of California (Davis), Leticia Diaz of Barry University and Joseph Kearney of Marquette University.
“I have a sense of accomplishment for having served 14 years,” said Mazza. “The first decade of my deanship was a difficult one in terms of application numbers and employment stats, but we stayed focused on the essentials – providing our students a high-quality education with an outstanding faculty, attention to professional development and building and maintaining relationships with our alumni in Kansas and across the country.”
With Mazza’s leadership, KU Law has emerged from some challenging times with a faculty who are consistently recognized for their scholarly productivity, diverse entering classes that continue to break LSAT and GPA scores and continuous high employment and bar passage rates.
Mazza’s career has taken him all over the country. After graduating from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1992 with his JD, he headed north to New York University School of Law to complete an LL.M. program specializing in tax. He joined the Atlanta–based law firm Kilpatrick & Cody – now Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP – in 1993, but early in his career he developed an interest in legal education.
“I took a leave of absence from the firm to return to NYU as a visiting assistant professor,” said Mazza. “If you think you want to teach, a VAP program is a great way to figure it out and eventually it took me to KU Law.”
Mazza joined KU Law’s star-studded faculty in 1998 where he formed an instant connection with Martin Dickinson, a former tax professor and dean, and Mike Hoeflich, who was the dean at the time. He eventually assumed the role of associate dean for academic affairs under his predecessor Dean Gail Agrawal.
When Agrawal left KU Law for a different deanship, Mazza was asked to serve as interim dean, but he didn’t immediately apply for the full-time position despite having been at KU Law for a decade.
After the first official dean search failed, however, Mazza realized that the parts of the job others found the most challenging were the most interesting and rewarding to him.
“I found meeting alumni to be one of the best parts of the job,” he said. “I enjoyed being out on the road and meeting smart people who had an interest in our school. I loved sharing our faculty and student successes with them.”
With encouragement from alumni like Glee Smith, L’47, Mazza decided to finally throw his hat in the ring. A little less than a year after he had assumed the interim position, Mazza officially moved into the role of dean of KU Law.
“I actually applied to several other law schools at the time,” said Mazza. “But in the end, I decided I couldn’t leave KU Law. And the idea that my colleagues had that much trust in me was really meaningful.”
Photo by Earl Richardson, L’08
When he took the lead of the law school, enrollment nationwide was in a downturn and had been since the Great Recession of 2008. Changes in university administration, budget issues, retirement of long-serving law faculty and, of course, COVID-19 made the job tough. But Mazza had a terrific administrative team in place, including Crystal Mai, associate dean of administration, Steve Freedman, associate dean for admissions and Leah Terranova, associate dean for academic and student affairs. Based on the work of many individuals, KU Law has emerged as one of the best value law schools in the country.
“Because of our generous alumni and donors, we are able to continually provide scholarship support for around 80% of the entering class,” said Mazza. “Private support also allows us to retain and grow our outstanding faculty.”
Many of the associate deans who served under Mazza have moved on to do other great things.
“It’s one of my greatest achievements,” said Mazza with a smile. “KU Law has had four former associate deans go one to become deans at other law schools.”
With years of experience under his belt, Mazza ardently supports other law professors interested in making the jump to dean.
“Accept all leadership opportunities that come your way,” said Mazza. “You can do this just as well, if not better, than everyone else so don’t undersell yourself. Ask for opportunities and find a mentor.”
Mazza credits some of his success to his relationship with his own mentors, Martin Dickinson and Mike Hoeflich, and wants to pay it forward.
“I have tried to be a good mentor to other people,” he said. “So, find a mentor who can support and guide you.”
For Mazza, he plans to stay a Jayhawk as long as he can.
“I had a couple of law school classmates visit me recently in Lawrence,” said Mazza. “As they were leaving, one said to me, ‘Now I understand why you’ve been in Kansas for so long.’ It’s a wonderful community.”
Some of those future plans include serving as chair of the 2025 Association of American Law Schools annual meeting where he will lead a group of other law school deans to review proposals for panels, presentations, symposia or other programming. His biggest goal, however, will impact all current, future and past KU Law students.
“There are still many things I want to accomplish. I want to bring KU Law back home to Jayhawk Boulevard,” said Mazza. “Back to what is now Lippincott Hall. It is one of our most ambitious projects yet, but being back in the heart of the KU campus would be incredible.”
– By Emma Herrman