March Member Luncheon ft. Rob Vischer President of St. Thomas

"Building for the next 138 years"
Meet the newly appointed president of the University of St. Thomas. Robert K. Vischer has been bestowed the honor of being named the 16th president of the 137-year-old Catholic university. Vischer, a longtime law school educator who became St. Thomas’ interim president prior to assuming his new role at the beginning of this year, will be the second layperson to assume the role. 

Robert Vischer has a storied tenure at St. Thomas. He served as dean of the university’s law school from 2013-22, rising through its ranks from when he started as associate professor of law in 2005. 

About our Speaker
Vischer is highly regarded for his role as dean of the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Over the course of his deanship, the law school has dramatically improved employment outcomes for its graduates, built a global student body by establishing partnerships with law schools in more than a dozen countries, redoubled its commitment to whole-person professional formation, maintained its top 25 ranking for scholarly impact, and made racial justice core to its mission.

He was an inaugural recipient of the Minnesota Lawyer Diversity and Inclusion Award for his contributions to the advancement of diversity and inclusion in the practice of law.

Before entering the legal academy, Vischer clerked for three federal judges and was associated with Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, where he practiced corporate litigation. He received his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of New Orleans, and his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.