FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2012
CONTACT:
Brook Arbeitman
Director of Marketing and Communications
Oklahoma City University School of Law
(405) 208-6300
bbarbeitman@okcu.edu
OCU LAW Dean of Student Services Wins
National Award
(OKLAHOMA CITY – January 10, 2012) – Oklahoma City University School of Law Associate Dean for Students, Deborah R. Felice (formerly Fathree), or “Dean Deb” as OCU LAW students call her, is the 2011 recipient of the Peter N. Kutulakis award. Felice received this national award at the annual Association of American Law Schools (AALS) meeting last week in Washington D.C.
Dean Emeritus Lawrence K. Hellman nominated Felice for the award, which was established in 2002 in memory of Associate Dean Peter N. Kutulakis of Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law. The award recognizes the outstanding contributions of an institution, administrator, or law professor in the provision of services to law students. Each year, the award is presented at the annual AALS meeting.
“Deb has worked tirelessly to create much-needed student services, programs, and activities for our students,” OCU LAW Dean Emeritus Lawrence K. Hellman said in his nomination letter. “Under Deb’s leadership at OCU, the student services office has become a welcoming port for those navigating law school’s sometimes stormy waters.”
Before coming to OCU LAW, Felice served in a similar role at University of Tulsa College of Law for nine years, followed by five years at Texas Wesleyan School of Law during its American Bar Association accreditation process. She earned her JD degree from the University of Tulsa and practiced law for three years before embarking upon her career in law student services.
“For over twenty-five years at three different law schools, Dean Felice has been a pioneer, and she has been a leader in developing the field of student services in legal education. Among the thousands of students whom she has served are members of Generation X, Generation Y, and Millennials, as well as students of all economic backgrounds, all races, all sexual orientations, all levels of academic capacity, and a wide array of physical and emotional impairments,” said Hellman.
“Dean Felice has consistently ‘been there’ and gone the extra mile for students. And it is not only students whom she has served, for she has been a key player in the maturation and improvement in three law schools, each one of which is a much better institution because of her dedicated performance.”
Felice is a leader who has, most recently, served as the 2009 chair of the AALS Section on Student Services. She is also the president-elect of the Oklahoma City Downtown Exchange Club, a service organization aimed at the prevention of child abuse.
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