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Founded in 1894, IU McKinney School of Law has fulfilled its mission of rigorous legal education and service to the state of Indiana for 130 years. More than half of the lawyers in the state are graduates of IU McKinney. Our alumni serve in many high-profile roles in the legal profession, government, business and civil society.
We continue to live our mission. For many IU McKinney students, a law degree is only possible if they can pursue that dream while working and supporting families. The fall 2023 launch of our hybrid J.D. was the innovative transformation of our foundational part-time evening program.
In introducing the first such program in Indiana, our school harnessed the fast-paced technological developments in online education with the lessons we learned during the pandemic to further our institutional goals of expanding Hoosiers’ access to legal education and of responding to the shortage of lawyers in the state and nation.
Students in our part-time hybrid program attend in-person classes at our world-class Inlow Hall two nights per week, instead of the five nights in our previous traditional evening part-time program. Each of their courses is delivered in a combination of asynchronous online and in-person methodologies.
By combining significant in-person learning with online scheduling flexibility, students whose more distant geographic locations or personal and professional commitments would have prevented them from attending our ABA-accredited law school now have a pathway to the legal profession.
Our faculty worked with online education professionals to make the courses engaging and pedagogically consistent with best practices in online education. As a result, students in the hybrid program receive the same demanding education as full-time students, while building relationships with peers, faculty and the extensive network of IU McKinney alumni throughout the state, the nation, and the world.
One year in, students in the part-time hybrid program report that they are thriving. Let me share some of their stories:
Safari Jackson is currently working as a summer associate at Dentons Bingham Greenebaum. Jackson said she decided to come to law school after working as a litigation paralegal for a couple of years. She said IU McKinney’s part-time hybrid program has made earning her J.D. a reachable goal.
“My experience at IU McKinney has been more than I could have expected,” she said. “The continuous support from the students, staff and professors has made my experience as a law student invaluable.”
Sarah Graham says the part-time hybrid program is making her dreams of obtaining a law degree possible. Graham works by day in the Indiana Public Defender’s Office. She is also a mother of two with a third child on the way.
“My experience in the hybrid program has been exactly what I expected,” she said. “It is just as rigorous as I imagine any full-time law school program would be, especially for students who are working or raising families. The flexibility of the hybrid option makes the coursework manageable, and the professors have gone above and beyond to make sure we are staying on pace and understanding the material.”
Another of our students says the part-time hybrid program is a vital part of making her goal of earning a J.D. a reality. Rachel Graham works full-time in the Indiana state legislature. Graham said the traditional part-time evening program seemed daunting to her as a full-time employee and parent. “The ability to do a portion of my weekly coursework asynchronously online was a game changer,” she said. “I still reside in Bloomington and commute an hour daily for work. The trifecta of work, school and travel every weekday appeared unfeasible until IU McKinney’s adaptive model presented itself.”
IU McKinney has long been called “Indiana’s law school,” owing to the significant number of our alumni who are lawyers and leaders in the state and on the national—and international—stage. Many outstanding alumni who completed their law degrees as part-time students in our evening program have expressed their gratitude for the opportunities provided by IU McKinney Law.
The hybrid program builds on our long tradition of meeting students where they are while providing a top-notch legal education and allowing graduates to flourish in new careers and make important contributions to their communities, the state of Indiana, and beyond.
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Karen E. Bravo is the dean and Gerald L. Bepko professor of law at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
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