After more than 13 years of serving Creighton, Vice President for Academic Affairs and professor of law Patrick J. Borchers announced earlier this week that he will be stepping down from his position in January 2013 to begin working on several research projects during the spring semester. Following this time away, Borchers will return to the School of Law as a faculty member.
Although there are many factors affecting Borchers’ decision to take this academic sabbatical, one major reason Borchers mentioned is the fact that Creighton is making many new transitions in regards to the structure of things and Borchers decided to take advantage of the opportunity to regroup and reevaluate before moving forward.
“Creighton is transitioning to a Provost model which will absorb my position,” Borchers said. “So when Fr. Lannon offered me a sabbatical for a semester for the spring semester it seemed like a great chance to recharge my batteries and decide what I want to do next.”
During his time off Borchers plans to work with his co-authors to produce a new edition of their law casebook on private international law. He will also be doing a great deal of editing for multiple volumes of a series on international jurisdiction along with a great deal of writing including an article on state law protection of human rights that will appear in the University of California, Irvine’s law journal.
“It will be nice to get a chance to really give my full attention to projects like this rather than having to work on them during nights or weekends,” Borchers said.
Despite the fact that Borchers will not be coming to Creighton each day for work, he will not be too far away from campus as he will still be using an office in the law school in order to have close access to the library, although he might attend a few conferences abroad if his schedule permits.
“I’m not really going to go anywhere … But I will miss the daily interaction with the great people in the vice president for academic affairs’ office,” Borchers said. “I’m looking forward, however, to getting more time to spend with my friends on the law faculty.”
Borchers initially began his tenure at Creighton as the dean of the School of Law before later being named to his current position of vice president for academic affairs where he has served for five-and-a-half years, making him the longest serving vice president for academic affairs in approximately two decades. During this time, Borchers and his team have managed to increase total enrollment in academic affairs and launched a series of programs reaching the entire nation.
After serving in higher positions for the majority of his time at Creighton, Borchers is unsure of what it will feel like to return as simply a faculty member within the school of law, but he is not fearful of this major transition.
“I’ve been in leadership positions so long I’m not sure what it will feel like,” Borchers said. “However, there are lots of other ways to take on leadership challenges, whether it’s on university committees or in the community. I’m sure I’ll eventually seek some of them out.”
The associate vice president for academic affairs, Gail Jensen, PhD first met Borchers while he was still serving as dean of the School of Law, but she has been reporting to him as associate vice president for academic affairs since 2007. Borchers is known throughout the law department for his sense of humor and Jensen said she will really miss his “one-liners that say it all.”
“VP Borchers cares deeply about Creighton University and our Catholic and Jesuit mission,” Jensen said. “… VP Borchers is a leader who is not afraid to take risks and launch innovative programs. He is responsible for supporting our growth in graduate education. He listens carefully and provides good guidance and direction or those administrators who report to him.”