EWU students will soon have more of an opportunity to pursue law at Gonzaga University thanks to a recent signed agreement.

Dean and professor of law at Gonzaga School of Law Jacob Rooksby spoke about the agreement between the universities.

“Well, it’s really Provost Gordon and I who first started talking about this possibility and been working on the agreement and getting it executed and in place,” Rooksby said. “There is a lot of excitement on both ends I know to see this succeed and we just see there is just so much potential between our two institutions.”

Joint degrees will be available with this agreement.

“So some of the things that the agreement also talks about joint degrees,” Rooksby said. “So we currently have a joint degree with Eastern, a master’s in social work and a law degree. We’d like to add additional ones and fortify the MSW joint degree as well. We’re contemplating a three plus three arrangement where an Eastern student can earn an undergraduate degree and a law degree in six years as opposed to seven keeping them here in this region longer and educating them in a shorter time period.”

Rooksby mentioned the recent awarded scholarship to ASEWU President Dante Tyler.

“We have a Thomas More program that offers a full ride scholarship to up to five students a year at our law school. We would like to see increased numbers of applicants and interests from Eastern. We have one student that is coming here using that scholarship from Eastern–Dante,” Rooksby said. “He’s coming here and he’s got one of those scholarships. So we see just tremendous potential in the collaboration in these kinds of areas.”

This collaboration between the two universities will provide more opportunities for students and the institutions.

“I think that it’s an arrangement or a collaboration that strengthens both institutions by offering something that the other doesn’t have,” Rooksby said. “And it only makes sense that these are two flagship institutions in the region that we find ways to work together where there is natural synergies. And we’ve identified, I think, those in this agreement. That was really the motivating factor for both of us. This seemed like a win-win for the institutions and for the students.”