Gonzaga University School of Law Assistant Dean of Students John Sklut has been appointed as a member of the American Bar Association, Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession.

In a letter dated Oct. 21, 2008, ABA president H. Thomas Wells, Jr., formally appointed Dean Sklut to a one-year renewable term commencing immediately.

The Advisory Council on Diversity (ACD) is one of three entities that together comprise the ABA’s Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity.

"The ACD offers programs and services to improve diversity in the "pipeline" to the legal profession," Dean Sklut said. "Its charge is to increase the number of people of color on the track to becoming lawyers."

This work starts with grade school and consummates with bar passage, he said.

ACD services include:

• Outreach to state and local bar associations
• Collaboration with ABA entities and affiliated organizations
• Collaborations with external organizations including Law School Admissions Council, Pre-Law Advisors National Conference, California Aspire Learn Lead (“California ALL”), Wingspread and the Associations of Jesuit Colleges and Universities Conference on Multicultural Affairs.

Dean Sklut recently attended the fall conference of the ACD and said that he is excited to add Gonzaga Law School’s voice, and efforts, to the legal community’s national commitment to diversify the profession.