Lee M. Finkel, Juris Doctor

Vice President of Academic Administration/Academic Cabinet Member

Lee Finkel began his career with University of Phoenix in 1989 and currently serves as the Vice President of Academic Administration. His responsibilities include maintaining the university's regional accreditation relationship with The Higher Learning Commission.

In 1989, he began as a part-time faculty member. Among his many accomplishments as a faculty member include co-developing the Mediation Certificate program and Conflict Management Systems course. In 1996, Mr. Finkel became Associate Dean of the college of Graduate Business and Management and in 2002 was promoted to the position of Executive Director in the Office of Dispute Management.

Prior to joining University of Phoenix, Mr. Finkel managed the faculty and curriculum for ethics training for the Arizona Supreme Court and also served as the Appeals Administrator and Acting Division Director for the Department of Economic Security. Prior to this, his experience included working as a corporate attorney for several large corporations.

He is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of Arizona and the U.S. District Court, District of Arizona and the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois; and is retired from the bar of the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Mr. Finkel has written articles that have appeared in professional publications and has presented them at national, professional conventions. "An Outside-the-Box Approach to Student Dispute Management" was included in a compendium of papers that were presented in April 2008 during the Annual Meeting of the Higher Learning Commission. His article "To Improve Negotiations Lend an Ear" was published in Purchasing Today, in June 2000.

He earned his Juris Doctor from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Illinois.