Stevenson University dedicated its new mock trial courtroom to local attorney and mediator Francis X. Pugh, Esq. The ceremony dedicating the Francis X. Pugh Courtroom was held April 29. Pugh—the founding Director of the Paralegal Studies program at what was then Villa Julie College—has inspired and encouraged hundreds of Stevenson paralegal studies students as a teacher and mentor since the program’s founding in 1973. Under Pugh’s direction, it was in the first group of paralegal studies programs to be approved by the American Bar Association in 1975. It continues to be the only nationally-approved four-year paralegal studies program in Maryland.

“Frank has left an indelible mark upon this institution and given us the proud legacy of a second-to-none paralegal studies program,” said Kevin J. Manning, Ph.D., President of Stevenson University. “He was a true pioneer of this area of career education. We hope that in some small way the naming of the courtroom honors his decades of outstanding service to Stevenson.”

Pictured: Frank Pugh with Stevenson paralegal studies student, Sarah Stocker, Class of 2012, at the April 29 dedication of the Francis X. Pugh Courtroom. Stocker is the 2010 recipient of the Pugh Scholarship, given to the sophomore parelegal studies student with the highest GPA. The Courtroom is housed in the Brown School of Business and Leadership on Stevenson’s Owings Mills campus.