The University of Iowa announced yesterday that Carolyn Jones, an Iowa alum and the first female dean of the University of Iowa law school will step down in the summer of 2010. That's a fair amount of advance notice, and it will likely mean that the law school never has to operate under an interim director. Although this is a fairly normal term length, it must seem short to folks who had grown accustomed to serious long-term stability. Bill Hines, the prior dean, served for 28 years.
Two days ago, the University of Arizona announced a distinguished group of finalists for their law deanship. I have to imagine Iowa will find a similarly impressive group. In case you're wondering, the finalists for the Iowa job in 2004 were (in addition to Carolyn Jones): Jeremy Paul (now dean at U Conn), Maureen O'Rourke (now dean at Boston University), Fred Yen, Morgan Cloud, Gary Simson (who served as dean at Case from 2006-08), and Christina Brooks Whitman.