The University of Missouri School of Law is pleased to announce Ben Trachtenberg’s appointment as the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

“This new role allows me to help Mizzou build a new program in undergraduate legal education,” Trachtenberg said. “The law faculty has tremendous expertise, much of which would be of great interest to college students if offered in an appropriate format.”

This position will give Mizzou Law the opportunity to adopt proven techniques that contribute to student success in undergraduate courses.

“Because we are building our undergraduate law curriculum from scratch, we can adopt best practices from the beginning, giving our students a great experience,” he said.

By creating an undergraduate law curriculum, Mizzou Law will have greater interaction with the rest of the MU campus.

“The overwhelming bulk of MU students are undergraduates, and right now very few of them have reason to visit Hulston Hall,” Trachtenberg said. “By offering undergraduate courses, we may encourage some students to attend law school who otherwise might not have enrolled. Also, we can provide useful knowledge to college students who will never attend law school but would still benefit from a better understanding of legal concepts.”

Trachtenberg will work with other units on campus, such as Arts & Science, Business, and Engineering to find opportunities for the law school to add to the overall educational mission at MU.

“I hope by the time I leave this role we will have a few courses on the books and will have already begun teaching undergraduates,” he said. “To me, success would mean that our courses get approved by campus, that students enroll in them, and that we provide excellent legal education to our undergraduate students.”