The EPPS Dean’s Council announced four goals for the upcoming academic year, including proposals for a new academic certificate and the creation of a course preparing students for law school admissions.
Co-founders Jackson Logue, a political science senior, and Jasmine Kouhestani, a criminology senior, spoke to The Retrograde about the council’s new initiatives.
Legal Studies Certificate
This certificate would allow students to officially designate themselves as pre-law. Earning the certificate would require the completion of a set of courses designed to prepare students for law school and the LSAT.
Currently, the certificate is under review by the Provost’s Office and is estimated to be available starting Spring 2027, according to Kouhestani and Logue.
Logue said that these sorts of academic initiatives are a high priority for the council, especially considering the large population of pre-law students in EPPS.
“One of my favorite things about the Dean’s Council is how we are able to create new opportunities for EPPS students,” Logue said. “We’re able to enforce curriculum changes and encourage opportunities like certificates.”
Law School Admission Course
Also estimated to release in Spring 2027, the EPPS Dean’s Council is planning on collaborating with the Pre-Law Advising Center to create a course to guide students through their law school applications.
This would be both a resource for pre-law students as well as a way to formally connect the Pre-Law Advising Center to EPPS. While many may automatically associate pre-law with EPPS, the advising center is not officially an extension of the school, Kouhestani said.
Economics senior Dylan Rothwell said that the Pre-Law Advising Center’s current independence may be hindering its ability to engage with the pre-law community at UTD.
“Pre-law usually fends for itself,” Rothwell said. “To have an official connection to a school would help a lot for the office to grow and be able to facilitate the needs of the many student organizations we have.”
For example, Rothwell is the president of the Business Law Undergraduate Society. While the organization is clearly law-related, Rothwell says that they actually get most of their funding from JSOM due to the Pre-Law Advising Center’s limited resources. Having access to the support of EPPS may provide the center with more opportunities to support student organizations and extend their reach.
“I know some students that were interested in law who are from other [UTD] schools and had no idea we had a pre-law office,” Rothwell said.
Student Proposal System
If students within or outside the EPPS Dean’s Council want to suggest further changes to the school, they may now do so through the council’s proposal system.
Proposals submitted by students can be reviewed by the council, and if accepted will be sent to administrators for review. This system was used for the design of the Legal Studies Certificate and is available to any EPPS student with an idea to improve the school.
“As a council, we are trying to identify ways to best suit these students and find ways to increase their representation,” Logue said.
Political science sophomore Brayden Weise said that he could see a proposal system benefitting EPPS only if the council could effectively advocate students’ wishes to school administrators.
“If they have basically no say, then I have no reason to bring [proposals] through the council,” Weise said. “But if they can push for something and get it to be discussed on the next layer up, then that does more for both your ability to say something and your ability to be heard.”
Award Ceremonies
The council is looking to host award ceremonies in the fall and spring to recognize outstanding students in EPPS. Last spring, the inaugural ceremony had about 100 attendees and the council is looking to bring it back this year.
“Our goal is to foster engagement, to award outstanding performance, and to bring the school of EPPS and its professors together,” Logue said.
These events could also help the council get their name out there for more students. Due to the organization’s recent establishment, many students still are not familiar with it, Weise said.
“There is definitely a range of attitudes and understanding of what [the council] is,” Weise said. “But I think for people who aren’t in it or who don’t have a very close friend who are in it, there is little knowledge of what goes on or what they do at all.”
Last time The Retrograde spoke to the council, Logue and Kouhestani highlighted their mentorship program for students in the “Red Zone,” a designation given to students needing academic support. The progress has since been made on the program.
For students like Weise, the council appears provisionary and ideas-oriented. The coming months will determine whether the hope councilmembers have transforms from ideals to reality.
“My slogan for the Dean’s Council is ‘creating community within the school of EPPS and unity within the university,’” Kouhestani said. “If you are in EPPS and if you want to make a change, we truly are interested in you.”