Dean Jacob Rooksby Granted Joint Appointment with School of Law and School of Leadership Studies

Welcome to Dean Jacob Rooksby, who has been granted a joint academic appointment as tenured faculty member with the School of Law and the School of Leadership Studies. Dean Rooksby has been a strong supporter of the School of Leadership Studies and has an interest in developing shared Law and Leadership programs and partnerships. He serves as Dean of Gonzaga Law School, a position he has held since June 2018. His academic focus has been centered around intellectual property and higher education law. He published a book on the topic with Johns Hopkins University Press in 2018. Prior to Gonzaga, Jacob was on the law faculty at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, and before that, practiced intellectual property and general commercial litigation with a law firm in Richmond, Virginia. He graduated, summa cum laude, from the College of William & Mary, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and holds J.D., M.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Virginia. In his free time, Jacob enjoys outdoor pursuits, including hiking, biking, and camping with his wife and young daughter. An aspiring mountaineer, he joined Adrian Popa’s SLS alumni trip to Mt. Whitney in May of 2018. Currently teaching a course called “Leadership for Lawyers” to law students, Jacob looks forward to offering a course for SLS students in the semesters to come.