Welcome back to Ahead of the Curve. I’m Karen Sloan, legal education editor at Law.com, and I’ll be your host for this weekly look at innovation and notable developments in legal education.

This week, I’ve got the run down on the crop of new deans heading to American University Washington College of Law; the University of Colorado School of Law; Georgia State University College of Law; Southwestern Law School; and Appalachian School of Law. I’m also checking in on the cool way that law students at Loyola University New Orleans found to say thank you to their professor, Rob Verchick.