{"id":22636,"date":"2025-09-10T16:49:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T20:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=22636"},"modified":"2025-09-03T16:49:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:49:41","slug":"detroit-mercy-law-to-launch-states-first-online-j-d-major-gift-from-alumnus-jonathan-d-rose-will-fund-startup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2025\/09\/10\/detroit-mercy-law-to-launch-states-first-online-j-d-major-gift-from-alumnus-jonathan-d-rose-will-fund-startup\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Mercy Law to launch state\u2019s first online J.D.; major gift from alumnus Jonathan D. Rose will fund startup"},"content":{"rendered":"

A $2.22-million gift from Jonathan D. Rose (\u201cDr. Rose\u201d) will help the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law<\/a> launch a fully online juris doctor degree in fall 2026.<\/p>\n

The Online J.D. Program (OJD) will be the first in Michigan and just the 21st in the nation. Applications for the four-year program are now being accepted at law.udmercy.edu<\/a>. It has been accredited by the American Bar Association.<\/p>\n

For UDM President Donald B. Taylor, this new program further enhances the University\u2019s academic tradition of innovation and excellence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extremely important gift by a very generous alumnus because it allows Detroit Mercy to make a difference in the lives of many students to come,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cSupport for programs like this are crucial to preserving and building on the UDM brand of education, which continues to be recognized nationally for the quality of our offerings, commitment of faculty and staff and dedication to student success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean of Detroit Mercy Law Nicholas Schroeck agreed. \u201cDetroit Mercy Law has long been a leader in innovation and increasing accessibility in legal education. From our earliest classes, we have welcomed students of all backgrounds, in a variety of innovative programs,\u201d Schroeck said. \u201cBuilding on our storied tradition in the heart of Detroit, our Online J.D. will allow us to reach people who have a passion for justice but currently lack the access to a legal education due to life circumstances or location.\u201d<\/p>\n

Detroit Mercy\u2019s OJD can be completed fully online and will replace Detroit Mercy Law\u2019s evening part-time residential program. Classes will be offered asynchronously for the most part, with some upper-level courses such as the award-winning clinics taught synchronously.<\/p>\n

Enrollment in the program is capped at 25 for the first class, which begins in fall 2026. The cap will then increase each year until the fall of 2030, when it will reach a maximum of 45 students. Schroeck says there is a great deal of interest in the program already.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents in this program will receive the same impeccable legal education that Detroit Mercy Law is known for. We\u2019re leaders in experiential education and not just teaching the law but teaching students how to be lawyers,\u201d Schroeck said. \u201cThe Online J.D. will mirror our residential J.D. program, and I think that is why we have already started to see strong interest in the online program. Students know the high-quality education they will receive from Detroit Mercy Law, whether they\u2019re physically on our campus or in our online classrooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $2.22-million donation, which is the largest gift given directly to the School of Law, came from Dr. Rose \u201981, \u201982 and will offset startup costs including instructional design, videography and faculty hiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important gift because it helps the University move forward on a project we have long been working on,\u201d Schroeck said. \u201cIt\u2019s forward-thinking Detroit Mercy supporters like Dr. Rose who are helping us spread the Detroit Mercy message of innovative educational opportunities across the country and making UDM a leader in higher ed.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Schroeck, this program has the potential to open doors to many who thought a career in law is not an option because it targets people who cannot attend law school during conventional hours and those who live too far from a law school campus to participate in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn online program will allow us to reach a pool of, and provide a legal education to, a group of students in parts of Michigan that we have not traditionally been able to reach, such as non-traditional students in Northern, Central, and Western Michigan, and students in Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, as well as out-of-state students,\u201d Schroeck said.<\/p>\n

He added that the typical online J.D. student is older than those of students in traditional law programs and brings years of experience in business, management, nonprofit and other fields.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Detroit Mercy Online J.D. Program, including how to apply, visit law.udmercy.edu<\/a> or call 313-596-0264.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law will launch a fully online juris doctor degree in fall 2026, thanks to a $2.22-million gift from Jonathan D. Rose. The Online J.D. Program (OJD) will be the first in Michigan and just the 21st in the nation, impacting the lives of many students to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":677,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6,6438,4404],"tags":[328,7067,7062,7065,327,5467,7066,7063,7068,438],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbwnTV-5T6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/677"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22636"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22640,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22636\/revisions\/22640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}