Daniel O. Bernstine (L72)
President, Portland State University

Alternating between teaching, administrating and practicing law, for much of his career Daniel O. Bernstine worked for two institutions — the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he served as a professor and later law school dean, and Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he taught and ultimately became general counsel.

Then, in 1997, he put all that experience together and became president of Portland State University in Portland, Ore., where he served until this spring.

At Portland State, the largest university in Oregon, Bernstine has worked to boost the institution's profile and further its civic relationships throughout the Portland metropolitan area, traditionally a key piece of the university's mission.

Bernstine left Portland State to take a position as president of the Law School Admission Council, the company that administers the Law School Admission Test.

"Ten years was enough," he says. "It's time for the university to start a new capital campaign. It's time for the school to do long-range strategic planning. ... I've completed my cycle, and it's time to do something else."

Although he didn't practice law for long, Bernstine's Northwestern degree has helped him throughout his career.

"I use the things I learned in law school every day: a way of thinking, of looking at the world, a way of solving problems and approaching problems," he says. "I wouldn't trade it."