Dennis Shields

Dennis Shields - Curriculum Vita

Dennis Shields has enjoyed a distinguished career in higher education and law. Long associated with many of our nation's premiere schools, Shields is an expert on law school admissions and diversity in legal education and has written extensively on the subject of diversity in education. Additionally, Mr. Shields is a frequent speaker and contributor at education conferences on diversity.

In addition to currently serving as the Vice President for Student Affairs at The City College of New York, he served as Dean at Phoenix School of Law (founded in 2005) and led the school to provisional approval by the American Bar Association. Vice President Shields has served in leadership roles with several national organizations affiliated with legal education. Prior to joining Phoenix School of Law, Vice President Shields served in senior administrative posts at the University of Iowa College of Law, the University of Michigan Law School and Duke University School of Law. He was instrumental in drafting the University of Michigan Law School admissions policy and had primary responsibility for its implementation. This policy was unsuccessfully challenged in Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the U. S. Supreme Court held that both the policy and the methods of its implementation were constitutional. Vice President Shields received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa and his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law.

Vice President Shields is married to Aundra N. Shields and has three sons.