What most call flyover country, University of Dayton law student Andrew Ferguson calls a classroom. What many would confuse for the lyrics of Johnny Cash's "I've Been Everywhere" are places Ferguson has attended class in the Law@Dayton program, one of the nation's first online hybrid J.D. programs.

A lead engineer for the U.S. Air Force's F-16 program, Ferguson has attended University of Dayton law classes while on planes enroute to or while in Seattle, Shreveport (Louisiana), St. Louis, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Fort Worth (Texas), Orlando (Florida), Norfolk (Virginia), Tucson (Arizona), Wichita (Kansas) and Washington (D.C.). He's also attended classes flying to or in the United Kingdom and Belgium.

"Plane flights are a really good opportunity to lose all distractions and focus hard on reading a case or briefing, or writing. I've spent many, many, many hours on (watching downloaded) classes and doing homework on planes across the country or across the Atlantic."

Ferguson, whose home base is Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in nearby Fairborn, Ohio, and who lives in the Dayton suburb of Bellbrook, is the type of student law school Dean Andrew Strauss had in mind for Law@Dayton.

"When I heard of Andrew and his experiences, I thought 'This is why we started our online hybrid program. Being in a particular place at a particular time to attend law school doesn't fit everyone's lives," Strauss said. "Online technology means that the legal profession no longer has to miss out on highly accomplished individuals like Andrew."

Ferguson said time differences and other scheduling snafus have sometimes thrown a wrench into "going" to class, but overall the flexibility of the program has been a huge reason for his success.

"When I went into the program, I realized it was going to be really hard to juggle classes with work and family time," he said. "But I've found professors have been really flexible. I think the administrators and professors understand this program is for people who have a professional and/or family life outside of law school. I've been really impressed with how the program has allowed us to juggle careers and family.”

In addition to the scheduling flexibility of the Law@Dayton program, Ferguson, who expects to graduate in 2023, said he's thankful he can work while going to law school.

"Fiscally, there are a lot of benefits to this program. I have the ability to maintain a full time, well-paying job," Ferguson said. "That's huge, compared to any other program where you have classes during the day and can't do a 9-to-5 job.

"I would have never been able to go to full time law school, otherwise. It's been a good opportunity."

Anyone interested in learning more about or applying to Law@Dayton can visit https://onlinelaw.udayton.edu/.

For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson, associate director of news and communications, at srobinson1@udayton.edu.