UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT MERCY SCHOOL OF LAW is seeking candidates for Director of its new Online Juris Doctor (OJD) program, which is scheduled to launch in the Fall of 2026. The Director will also be expected to teach (with a reduced load) in the OJD Program as a tenure-track faculty member. We therefore are interested in candidates who could teach a firstyear course in the OJD Program while serving as Director. In addition to an OJD Director, we are also seeking a tenure-track faculty member who can provide academic support for our OJD students in conjunction with our Academic Success and Bar Preparation Department. We anticipate that faculty who work in the OJD Program could also teach in our residential JD programs, though that is not a condition for hire.
The OJD Program will be a fully online program of legal education – the first of its kind among Michigan’s law schools – and has already received the American Bar Association’s acquiescence. The OJD Director will report directly to the Dean of the School of Law, and will be responsible for working with faculty and instructional design consultants on course design and development. The Director should possess a Juris Doctor degree and have substantial experience in online legal education, including experience with online course design, synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and online assessment. This position may include pre-scheduled campus visits for key milestones; timing and frequency will be set collaboratively.
The Academic Support & Bar Preparation faculty member will help shape the program’s academic and bar-readiness infrastructure, and lead outcomes-based assessment consistent with ABA Standards and distance-education requirements. Working with instructional design staff, the successful candidate will design and teach online academic skills and bar-readiness courses; integrate formative, criterion-referenced assessments across the curriculum; build a coherent bar success pathway; and develop online orientation and student-success initiatives. Candidates should demonstrate a record, or strong potential, of effective online teaching and student-facing support, and have experience in academic support, bar preparation, and program assessment. Familiarity with the NextGen Bar Exam, fluency with jurisdiction-specific bar admission requirements, admission to a U.S. jurisdiction, facility with LMS platforms (e.g., Canvas), and prior work in distance-education compliance are also highly desirable.
Although the OJD program is set to officially launch in Fall 2026, the start date for a Director and academic support faculty member is negotiable and we welcome candidates who could begin the respective roles as soon as possible. Candidates are welcome to apply for either or both roles. As OJD courses will be offered only remotely, the OJD Director and academic support faculty member are not expected to have an immediate, permanent physical presence at the School of Law in Detroit. The candidates who fill these roles, however, may be expected to have some physical presence in Detroit in future years, as negotiated with the Dean.
Candidates should send a current CV or resume, along with a cover letter expressing their interest and qualifications, to Professor Richard Broughton, Chair of the Faculty Recruiting Committee, at broughjr@udmercy.edu. Candidates may also submit additional materials such as research statements, prior publications, and teaching evaluations. Applications will be reviewed immediately. We welcome and encourage applications from women, from members of racial and ethnic minority groups, and from any other candidates who will further enhance the diversity of our faculty.
