New Fund Honors Dean Conte, Promotes International Studies

The University of Dayton School of Law has created a new fund to promote international studies and honor the late dean, Francis J. Conte.

The Francis J. Conte Fund for International Studies will support international studies at the School of Law, as part of the University Dayton’s global learning initiative.

The fund will help bring scholars and practitioners to UDSL to address various topics in international law, the globalization of law and the legal practice. It will also provide financial support for UDSL students studying abroad.

To contribute to the fund, contact the School of Law's Office of External Relations.

Conte served as dean of the University of Dayton School of Law from 1987 to 2001 and as professor of law from 2001 until his death in 2011.

During the last decade of his career, his teaching and scholarship focused on issues related to international law, including immigration, international human rights and European Union Law. During the 2008-09 academic year, Conte taught on the University of Warsaw Faculty of Law in Poland as a Fulbright scholar.

“The Conte Fund for International Studies not only honors Fran’s impressive legacy, it will enrich the academic environment at the School of Law through a new lecture series,” said Dean Paul E. McGreal. “We think Fran would have been proud to have his name associated with such an endeavor.”

The creation of the new fund is one of several ways the School of Law has remembered Conte.

On Friday, November 11, UDSL will hold a ceremony blessing the future site of a garden on the Keller Hall East Lawn honoring Dean Conte’s legacy. The ceremony begins at noon and will be followed by a lunch and networking event for alumni and students.

The garden is expected to be complete in the spring of 2012.

In October, the Student Bar Association sponsored the Inaugural Conte 5K Classic on campus.  Approximately 150 people participated in the run and 35 people volunteered. The run raised more than $3,000 for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and the Conte memorial garden.

Conte, who served the University of Dayton and its School of Law for nearly 25 years, died March 20, 2011. He joined Dayton Law in 1987 as dean, a position he held until 2001, making him the longest-serving dean in the School of Law’s history. After he stepped down as dean, he remained at the School of Law, returning to the classroom as a full-time professor. During his tenure as dean, he oversaw the fundraising campaign and construction of Joseph E. Keller Hall.