When Rebecca Kipper was deployed to Kuwait for a year with the California National Guard—in the middle of law school—few people kept in touch as actively as Jayne Kacer, associate dean for student affairs at the Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law.

“She makes it a practice to get to know every student individually,” said Kipper, who graduated in May and now clerks for a judge in West Virginia. “She always took a vested interest in me, and really epitomized the good things about Chapman.”