Grand Forks Herald: Del Crandall, new UND School of Law dean, brings Navy experience and leadership to higher education

GRAND FORKS — Del Crandall had never been to North Dakota before his on-campus interview at the University of North Dakota at the end of March, but he’s familiar with prairies and small communities.

Being born 40 miles west of Chicago had already familiarized him with flat land, and he and his wife are accustomed to small, tight-knit communities after a 40-year career in the U.S. Navy.

“We appreciate the slightly slower pace here (as compared to) the Washington, D.C. area,” he said. “I spent the last 14 years of my career in the D.C. area.”

Crandall is the new dean of the School of Law. He officially began his position at the beginning of July and has been spending his time so far getting to know the staff and the several faculty members who come to the law school building in the summer as he awaits the start of the fall semester, when all faculty will be back. He has also been getting familiarized with Grand Forks.

Crandall’s knowledge of law comes from his career in the Navy. He took part in a program through which the Navy sends small numbers of line officers to law school. From that start, he became a judge advocate for about 32 years. His last job was as the judge advocate general before retiring as an admiral. Crandall said his specialty is in international law and national security law.

He took a year off before deciding what to do with the rest of his life, he said, as he wanted to work for another 10-12 years. He started to think about higher education and saw the parallels between its mission and the mission of the Navy — giving training, direction, opportunities and experience to people from across the country and other nations.

“They think about, ‘how am I going to transform my life,’” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘I want to be involved for the next 10-12 years of my life in a similar kind of mission,’ and higher-ed seemed to really align with that.”

Two big reasons why Crandall chose UND are its mission in serving the people of North Dakota and the care the university leadership has for its students and their success, from President Andrew Armacost down through the rest of campus.

He said UND’s smaller law school provides opportunities larger law schools don’t, such as more opportunities for students to get to know their professors. The school also has commitment from alumni who provide opportunities like externships and summer employment, acting as mentors and role models for students.

Crandall knows he’s not a traditional candidate for deanship, but experiences with leadership and management and his people skills from his years in the Navy are certainly applicable to higher-ed.

“This is a people business. Our tools are our faculty and staff,” he said. “And the military is a people business. … It always comes back to people, so I do think that has been helpful to me in this first month.”