UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Stephen Dunham, vice president and general counsel at Penn State, has announced he will step down on Sept. 30 and transition into a new role in the University’s Office of General Counsel through spring 2023. Dunham also will continue his faculty appointment in Penn State Law through next spring.
As one of the nation’s leading legal experts in higher education law with a career spanning more than 50 years in public and private practice, Dunham came to Penn State in 2012 from Johns Hopkins University, where he served as vice president and general counsel for seven years.
Over the past decade, Dunham has provided expert legal advice and counsel on a wide variety of important legal matters relating to litigation, First Amendment issues, fraternity and sorority life, governance and many others. Dunham’s arrival at Penn State coincided with the most challenging period in the University’s history and he played an important role in helping to implement reforms and institutional change. Those efforts in large part enabled Senator George Mitchell, the NCAA-appointed independent monitor, to recommend to the NCAA that the consent decree be terminated significantly earlier than its original five-year term.
Along with his administrative role, Dunham is an adjunct professor of law and teaches a course on professional responsibility (ethics) at Penn State Law.
“We are incredibly thankful for Steve’s expertise and wisdom along with his steadfast dedication to the University over the last ten years,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “He is a leader in his field and a trusted and thoughtful adviser who has made an indelible impact on our standing as a premier world-class institution.”
Penn State plans to conduct a national search for Dunham’s successor beginning in 2023. On Oct. 1, Frank Guadagnino, vice president for administration and associate general counsel, will assume the role of interim vice president and general counsel. Guadagnino was an associate general counsel in the Office of General Counsel for four years prior to being named to his current role in 2018.
“It’s been an honor to serve the Penn State community for the past decade alongside a group of colleagues I deeply respect,” Dunham said. “It has been a highlight of my career to play a role in shaping the continued excellence of the University for future generations of students, faculty, staff, administration and Board of Trustees. I am immensely proud of our collective efforts to build an outstanding legal team and look forward to Penn State’s continued success.”
For the past ten years, Dunham has led Penn State’s Office of General Counsel, which was established in 2010 to oversee all legal affairs for the University, including Penn State’s campuses and the Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and College of Medicine located in Hershey. In his capacity as general counsel, Dunham leads a team of attorneys who provide legal advice and representation to the Board of Trustees and administration regarding all legal matters affecting the University.
The office maintains a wide scope of endeavors given the size and complexity of Penn State’s $8.4 billion research, education and service activities, athletics and healthcare operations. The office develops University policies; interprets and upholds rules and guidelines concerning University activities affecting compliance with federal and state laws and regulations; oversees the retention of outside counsel when needed; and collaborates with a variety of offices across the University, including the Risk Management Office and Affirmative Action Office.
“It’s been a privilege to serve as a colleague of Steve’s,” Guadagnino said. “His considerable intellect and deep belief and attachment to the mission of Penn State and the importance of higher education are inspiring and his contributions to the University have been nothing short of extraordinary.”
As a respected national expert in higher education law, ethics and litigation within the legal community, Dunham has worked on a number of high-profile matters over the years that involve the intersection of law, reputation, risk management, the press and government investigations. He is a frequent speaker at legal conferences and events across the country and writes a regular column for “Trusteeship” magazine from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.
Following graduation from Yale Law School in 1969, Dunham got his start as a law clerk to United States District Court Judge Stanley A. Weigel in San Francisco, eventually joining Morrison & Foerster, where his practice focused on commercial litigation and where he became a partner in 1976. Following six years as vice president and general counsel at the University of Minnesota, he returned to Morrison & Foerster as a litigation partner in the Denver office in 1988. Along with his litigation and counseling practice, Dunham served for several years as a managing partner and then chair of the 1,000-lawyer firm.
With a passion for teaching, Dunham throughout his career has taught law courses in federal jurisdiction, higher education law, contracts, professional responsibility, trial practice and complex litigation at the law schools of University of Denver, University of Minnesota, University of California and Penn State. He also has served as an instructor at various state and national programs of continuing legal education, including at many programs sponsored by the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA).
Among his many professional affiliations, Dunham has served for over 20 years as chair of the board of trustees of Soka University of America, chaired the California State Bar Special Committee on Pro Bono Legal Services, served on the board of trustees of Mills College, and was a member of the board of directors and a fellow of NACUA. He also has been a member of the American Law Institute, board of directors of the American Judicature Society, and the American Law Institute-American Bar Association Committee on Continuing Professional Education.
Dunham has been a member of the California, Minnesota, and Colorado bars and is a member of the Maryland Bar and the Pennsylvania Bar (in-house license). He earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a juris doctor degree from Yale Law School, where he was a member of the Yale Law Journal and graduated Order of the Coif, one of the nation’s highest honors for law students.