Dean Fisher joined us as interim dean of CSU Law in 2016 and as dean in 2017. Over the past nine years, CSU Law has grown its programs, clinics and centers, including the launch of four new clinics: the Terry Gilbert Wrongful Conviction Clinic; the Pre-Trial Justice Clinic; the Pardon, Clemency, and Re-entry Clinic; and the David Braff Animal Law Clinic/Center. The college became one of the first law schools in the nation to launch a part-time online JD program, and in Fall 2024, CSU Law enrolled the largest first-year class in 15 years, a 96% increase in enrollment since 2016.

Dean Fisher also launched the P. Kelly Tompkins Leadership and Law Program and established the CSU College of Law Hall of Fame to recognize members of the CSU Law community who best exemplify the motto of “Learn Law. Live Justice.” In 2021, he and his wife Peggy Zone Fisher won the highest award of the Cleveland Bar Association Foundation, the Richard W. Pogue Award for Excellence in Community and Engagement, and in 2024, he was elected Chair of the Section on Leadership of the American Association of Law Schools.

In addition to his service to CSU, Dean Fisher is an experienced attorney, public servant, and nonprofit and higher education leader. He served on the Oberlin College Board of Trustees and spoke nationwide about the value of a college degree as President/CEO of CEOs for Cities. He held positions as of counsel and partner with the Cleveland-based firm Hahn Loeser. From 1981 to 1990, he served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate, and he served as Chair of the Cuyahoga County legislative delegation. He was Ohio’s 44th Attorney General from 1991 to 1995 and the 64th Lieutenant Governor from 2007 to 2011. He also served as Director of the Ohio Department of Development, Chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission and President & CEO of the Centers for Families and Children. In 2022, Dean Fisher was inducted in the Cleveland Magazine Business Hall of Fame for his decades-long work on Ohio regional and state economic development.

“Cleveland State University and the College of Law are dear to me, and I will be forever grateful for the special opportunity to work with such outstanding students, staff, faculty, alumni and university leaders,” Dean Fisher said. “Thankfully, Baldwin Wallace University and CSU are close neighbors. I look forward to the continued success of both institutions in the years to come.”

Dean Fisher will begin his presidency at Baldwin Wallace this summer. In the coming weeks, Provost Nigamanth Sridhar will share the University’s plan to fill this vacant deanship.

Please join us in congratulating Dean Fisher on his upcoming presidency and career milestone.