The American Bar Association (ABA) Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar granted conditional approval for Penn State to merge its two law schools, the university announced in a release on Tuesday.

Penn State previously operated two, separately accredited schools: Penn State Dickinson Law and Penn State Law. Neeli Bendapudi approved the merger of the two schools in August 2023 despite protests from more than 40 faculty members.

Final approvals rest with the regional accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and the national accreditor, the U.S. Department of Education. The conditional approval allowed Penn State to enroll a unified juris doctor in the Class of 2028.

“Maintaining our focus on continued excellence in legal education reflects our commitment to our mission, both through the success of our law students and the impact they go on to have on the legal profession and the world,” Bendapudi said in a statement.

“Uniting the best of both of our existing programs into a single law school allows Penn State to continue realizing this mission, empowering our law students, and fostering continued greatness in the study and practice of law. I am grateful to Dean Conway, Penn State Law Interim Dean Victor Romero, and the faculty and staff across Carlisle and University Park who have remained steadfast in their focus on our students and our community throughout this process.”

Penn State’s unified law school will be led by Danielle M. Conway, the dean of Dickinson Law. The school will have a primary campus in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with a continued, smaller presence at the University Park campus.

Penn State’s faculty is set to work on unifying its educational processes, including faculty bylaws, prospective promotion and tenure rules, and curriculum. Additionally, administrators, staff, and students will work to unify portfolio assessments and support coverage, systems planning and implementation, extracurricular programs and processes, and student-centered services and supports.

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Joe Lister

Joe, shockingly, was Onward State's managing editor from 2024-25. It was an honor. He's off employed doing journalism things, hopefully. If you want to complain about anything he's ever written, you can find him on Twitter (iamjoelister), email (jlister2021@gmail.com), or Signal (iamjoelister.93).

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