Help support a new scholarship in honor of Associate Dean Aguilar!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2024 issue of Res Gestae.
When Reyes Aguilar (’92), associate dean of admissions and financial aid, began classes at Utah Law in 1989, he had no idea he would build a career here, let alone in Utah.
As a child, Aguilar had lived mainly in Texas with his mom and spent summers visiting his dad in New Mexico, eventually deciding to stay there for high school.
“I knew as I was graduating that if I wanted to return to northern New Mexico or Santa Fe, especially, I would need to be a professional to be able to afford to live there,” Aguilar recalls. “That was one impetus for college and thinking about grad school, although I had no idea what I would be doing.”
He attended Texas A&M University, changing majors a few times. Law school was not in his plans until he took a required liberal education class called Law and Society from Professor Joseph Reese.
“I connected with the class, and I was doing well. In fact, Professor Reese used one of my test answers as a sample answer for the class. I was shocked,” Aguilar says. “He told me that based on my class performance, he’d be willing to be my advisor in my political science major if I didn’t have one. I told him I was a biology major, and he seemed disappointed. I thought about it and really liked the material, so I changed my major to political science. He then served as my advisor, and I really enjoyed the major.”
While Aguilar was considering pursuing a master’s or PhD, Professor Reese encouraged him to earn a JD instead because he could practice law, work in politics, or pursue other opportunities. During his final college semester, Aguilar also did an internship with the child support enforcement division of the Texas attorney general’s office and realized he liked what a law degree could offer.
“I saw what that attorney did and thought it could be a cool job, but I also thought a law degree could take me back to northern New Mexico. I could be a small-town lawyer,” Aguilar says. “That’s what initially gave me the impetus to go to law school.”
Discovering the University of Utah law school
Aguilar recalls that the law school admissions process has changed a lot from when he applied. In 1989, prospective law students would buy Credential Assembly Service (CAS) report tickets. You would anticipate the number of schools you’d apply to, and CAS would send you a little ticket book. Then you would include one of the tickets in your application materials. The law school would send that ticket to the organization that administered the test scores, and they would mail your transcripts, LSAT score and other information to the law school.
With one ticket left over, Aguilar was contemplating the last place he should apply to when he received a recruitment mailing from the University of Utah law school, a letter from Professor John Martinez.
“I actually thought it was BYU,” Aguilar says, chuckling. “What I’ve discovered in the work that I do is that especially east of the Mississippi, everybody just sees Utah as this one big thing. I went to my advisor, Professor Reese, and told him I was being recruited by the LDS church to go to law school in Utah. He corrected me and told me Utah Law had a really good reputation. He also knew some of the faculty members like Samuel Thurman, Jefferson Fordham, and John Flynn. He told me I should look into it.”
Because the S.J. Quinney College of Law met Aguilar’s requirement of being in the mountains, he sent in his application and was admitted—while still not knowing much about the school. When he came for a campus visit, however, he knew Utah Law would be a great fit.
“I saw that this was a small school with small classes, and I knew that would be conducive to my learning style. More importantly, it was a very welcoming place, as it is to this day. It’s why I’ve stuck around as long as I have,” Reyes recalls. “At the time, the associate dean was Lee Teitelbaum, and he taught at the University of New Mexico for quite a while before he came to Utah. Unannounced, I knocked on his door and asked what it was like to move to Utah after so many years in New Mexico. He was extremely gracious. He pulled away from his desk, lit up a cigarette (in those days you could smoke in the building), and we had a really long conversation.”
Sitting down with Teitelbaum cemented Aguilar’s decision to attend Utah Law but also affected his career: Teitelbaum told him he had lived in Albuquerque for 20 years and taught at the UNM law school and would not say anything negative about that institution because there was nothing negative to say.
“He told me, ‘I can tell you about the differences I’ve experienced, but it’s just differences. It’s not better or worse. It’s just differences,'” Aguilar says. “It impressed upon me the respect he had for this former institution. He saw his role as giving me information that would be helpful in making a decision, not trying to cast an aspersion against another school just for the purposes of trying to enroll a student. That really stuck with me, even years later when he became dean and actually ended up hiring me as director of admissions. It was one of the lessons I’ve carried forward to this day.”
Aguilar says he owes much of his career to the late Dean Teitelbaum.
“Lee was a good example of what Joseph Reese told me: Utah Law is this incredible school that draws incredible faculty, and sometimes people aren’t aware of it,” he says. “I didn’t know it at the time, but Teitelbaum was this internationally renowned scholar in family law. He was a big deal. Yet he was willing to open his door and step away from his research and talk to me.”
Building a career at Utah Law
After Aguilar graduated from law school in 1992, he still planned to return to northern New Mexico and work as an attorney.
“Even when I went through the hiring process to become an administrator at Utah Law, I made a promise of doing this for two years. Then two years turned into four, and then this July became 32 years. That was never the plan,” Aguilar says. “But for anybody who’s interested in working in academia, I highly recommend it. It’s changing, and it’s a very different place from when I started, but it’s still an incredible opportunity to be among young, smart people in a really vibrant community.”
He recalls another lesson he learned from Dean Teitelbaum about career accomplishments.
“Lee said that when you become a dean, you can no longer measure your successes by what you’ve done, whether it’s publishing an article or getting recognition. Your success and your achievements as a dean should be measured by the successes of your faculty and your students,” Aguilar says. “In leadership, someone should be looking not to define their success by what they achieve but rather what the institution and those they’ve led have achieved.”
While Aguilar is grateful for the recognitions he has received from the Utah Bar, the law school, and other national organizations, he says his greatest achievements are looking back at students he admitted and seeing where they’ve gone in their lives.
“It does make me feel good to know I’ve admitted students who have gone on to notable judicial and professional achievements, including a former United States Supreme Court clerk, federal judges and magistrates, and people who have worked on some really important cases within the state and nationally,” Aguilar says.
And Aguilar also applauds alums who aren’t as well-known in their professions.
“I like seeing those who have pursued their dreams, the people who wanted to be trial attorneys in a very small community or go back home to help in their hometown. They may not be getting the press and notoriety others are, but I’m just as proud of those students. I’ve helped somebody achieve what they wanted to do professionally,” he says.
Navigating the ups and downs of law school admissions
One of the most challenging—but most enjoyable—parts of Aguilar’s career has been the travel involved with recruitment and professional organizations.
“I’ve had to spend a lot of time away, and I have to give credit to my wife, Camille, and my daughters, Sophia and Ella. They never asked me to stop traveling, because I enjoy it. But I know it was a challenge, especially during the fall when I would be gone a couple weeks at a time and come home for two or three days and be on the road again,” he says.
He dislikes having to turn down law school applicants as well.
“I never, ever forget that I have to say no to more people than I get to say yes to. One of the beauties of being such a small place is also one of the greatest challenges in admissions. Saying no to seven or eight out of every 10 applicants is disappointing somebody,” he says. “I try to be sensitive and empathetic. It’s fun letting people know they’ve been admitted and they have an option, but I also feel the disappointment people experience if they don’t gain admission. That can be a difficult thing to accept.”
Aguilar says it’s also been challenging to watch higher education change.
“When I started law school and began my career, the role colleges and universities played was unique to American society. They were incubators of innovation and development and on the cutting edge of thought from the scholars within them. They held a special place, and there was funding and support,” he recalls. “Revenues and enrollments morphed what was a unique institution to another version of the corporate model. It’s been a challenge seeing that transformation, trying to navigate it and still make sure that what we do here is holding a different place. That will continue to be one of the biggest challenges higher education will face moving forward.”
Still, Aguilar says the relationships he has made at Utah Law have made it a rewarding career.
“I’ve been part of an institution that contributes in a major way and has an impact on people’s lives. It always comes back to the people. I’ve enjoyed working with students and my colleagues,” he says. “This is a wonderful job because you help people with achieving their dreams. You find out what they want to do and what brings meaning to their lives.”
Hitting the slopes of retirement
Aguilar will retire from Utah Law at the beginning of September. While he’s looking forward to skiing midweek again, not traveling for work so much, and spending more time with his wife and college-age daughters, he wants to continue working in education.
“I hope to stay engaged with people seeking access to higher education and law school, providing some services to people who need help. Colleges and universities are now limited in what they can do in assisting candidates in the process, especially candidates who may see themselves as underrepresented,” he says. “Maybe as a ‘private citizen’ I’ll be able to engage in a different way and provide those opportunities outside of what the institutions are now limited in doing.”
In honor of Dean Aguilar, the College of Law has a goal to establish The Aguilar-Mingo Family “Here to Help” Scholarship in Law, a need-based award for one or more worthy students per year as selected by the dean or their designee. This new scholarship acknowledges Aguilar’s immediate family and in-laws, the Mingo family, and reflects the personal support system that helped him along the way. We invite you to support this new scholarship and add your well wishes for and memories of Dean Aguilar.