The Road to Chapman

First Vernon Smith leaves GMU for Chapman University, now Ronald Rotunda and Yakir Abaronov are leaving too:

Ronald Rotunda, former George Mason University law professor and an expert on legal ethics and constitutional law, has signed on to join the Chapman University School of Law’s faculty as a tenured professor on Aug. 1. Rotunda will be joined by his wife Kyndra, an expert on military personnel and disability law.

The Rotundas’ move to Chapman, located in Orange, California, marks the third major defection to the university from GMU in the past year. The Orange County Register's "College Life" blog reported that in July 2007, Nobel economist Vernon Smith left GMU with his team of researchers to help establish the Economic Science Institute at Chapman. He also has a joint appointment with the law school.

Earlier this month renowned physicist Yakir Abaronov, whose name has been mentioned as a possible Nobel candidate for his work in quantum physics and in earth observation, joined Chapman to establish its College of Science and Center for Excellence.

All of these professors are tremendous losses for GMU and disappointing to see for our university. We also lost Richard Florida to Toronto. I don't know what's causing all of these "defections", but it is very sad to see.