On March 8, the WSU Board of Governors approved the recommendation made by the Academic Affairs Committee to establish a new bachelor of arts in law program.
Beginning in fall 2023, the B.A. in law will be offered through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS). The program will be partnered with academic units from across the Midtown campus.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Mark Kornbluh told the committee that the B.A. in law is designed to be an intradisciplinary program that will provide students with a broad-based liberal arts degree.
While the new program will be housed in CLAS, it has been developed in coordination with the Wayne State University Law School, Kornbluh said.
He hopes the new program appeals to students who have a curiosity about law, government, politics or criminal justice.
Students who want to learn more about business, economics, history, philosophy or political science may also find an academic home with the new law major.
Though the degree will not enable students to take the state bar exam and practice law, it will pave the way to law-adjoining careers or prepare students for a juris doctor in the future.
The B.A. in law will provide a strong foundation in law, critical thinking and writing, ethics, political and legal theory, and legal and justice systems that will make students competitive for innovative and emerging employment opportunities in a variety of fields and industries, including pursuing graduate studies in law school.
Wayne State is the nation’s latest institution to begin a law degree program for undergraduate students, joining the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law (2014), State University of New York at Buffalo Law School (2019) and the University of Southern California Gould School of Law (2022).
The proposal was approved by the faculty of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the faculty of the College of Law.
