William Mitchell College of Law has appointed Mark C. Gordon, the president of an Ohio liberal arts school, as its new president and dean.

Gordon, 54, will succeed Eric Janus, who has led the St. Paul law school since 2007.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Gordon has been president of Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio, since 2009.

He was the former dean of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Gordon starts his new job as president and dean at William Mitchell in July, the law school announced Tuesday.

"Mark Gordon emerged as the top choice from a diverse pool of highly accomplished leaders," said Helen Meyer, a former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, who led the search committee.

Before his academic career, Gordon served in the Clinton administration as general deputy assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the 1990s, and as an assistant to Mario Cuomo, then-governor of New York, during the 1980s.

Janus is stepping down to return to teaching.

Maura Lerner