Rodney O. Fong is the Associate Dean for Academic Achievement, Institutional Assessment, and Bar Preparation at The John Marshall Law School in downtown Chicago.  Rod has worked in legal academia for three decades, teaching and directing academic support programs at John F. Kennedy, Golden Gate, Santa Clara, and the University of San Francisco law schools. He has also consulted with academic support programs at several ABA law schools.

Rod is known for his innovative approaches to developing institutional strategies to enhance student success in law school and passing the bar exam.  For the past ten years, he has been exploring the effects of psychological barriers on student performance, such as belonging, impostor syndrome, growth mindset, resilience, and stereotype threat and is converting strategies that have helped college students into opportunities to improve law student performance.  In addition to these barriers, he applies a multi-faceted approach to working with students considering their life experiences, cultural background, generation, and anything else that might impact their performance.

Active in state and national organizations, Rod has served on the Board of Trustees of the Law School Admissions Council and as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Section on Academic Support Programs. In addition to his service with For People of Color, Inc., he has been active in increasing diversity and access in the legal profession through the educational pipeline by serving as Chair of the State Bar of California Council on Access & Fairness, participating on the American Bar Association Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity, and being appointed to the ABA Council on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline.

Immediately prior to his current position, Rod was the Director of the Office of Legal Services at the State Bar of California.  The office provided technical support and administered the funding for legal services agencies throughout the state, developed projects to eliminate bias in the profession, and staffed the California Commission on Access to Justice.

Rod is the first person in his family to attend college and law school.  He is a native of San Francisco, a graduate of its public schools, and attended the University of San Francisco for his B.A. and J.D. degrees.

Contact Information:

Rodney O. Fong
Board Member
For People of Color, Inc.
10880 Wilshire Boulevard
Suite 1101
Los Angeles, California 90024
T: 310.307.4714
F: 310.307.4701

*All titles and affiliations are for identification purposes only.