Case settled: Farha moves on to Valparaiso
Mandy Toepfer
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Campus Life
Over the last six years, Darron Farha has looked over countless contracts, gone to court twice, prevented many lawsuits, and has dealt with a number of employment and student life issues.
His job as general counsel at Pitt State may have ended, but Farha will become Valparaiso University's first vice president and university counsel Monday, Nov. 16. The university, located in Valparaiso, Ind., has an enrollment of about 4,000 students.
This isn't the first time Farha's been in a new position. Farha was PSU's first full-time attorney. Before, the school had someone who was both an auditor and an attorney. Now, the school houses a full-time auditor and a full-time attorney.
So, when the announcement from Valparaiso University came up on a National Association of College University Attorneys listserv, Farha wanted to check the opportunity out.
"It kind of seemed up my alley to be the first full-time attorney and so I went to their Web site," he said. "I had heard about Valparaiso University before, and researched the school a bit, looked like a really neat school, read a little bit about their president, seemed like a really neat person. The town seemed really neat, the job seemed really neat."
Farha says he was happy at PSU, but he was looking to take the next step in his career. Everything seemed to fall in place before the move: He qualifies for the majority of jobs that require five to 10 years of experience and his kids were young enough they could move.
Although he's had six years of experience in higher educational law, he didn't even know the field existed when he graduated from PSU in 1995 with a bachelor's in business administration. Farha worked in outside sales from 1995 to 1998, but it wasn't long before he started thinking of bigger goals.
Farha went on to get his MBA from the Washburn University School of Business and his JD from the University of Kansas School of Law. From 2001 to 2003, he practiced law in Pittsburg. Then Farha found his match - higher education law. He started working for PSU as the general counsel in the summer of 2003.
His job as general counsel at Pitt State may have ended, but Farha will become Valparaiso University's first vice president and university counsel Monday, Nov. 16. The university, located in Valparaiso, Ind., has an enrollment of about 4,000 students.
This isn't the first time Farha's been in a new position. Farha was PSU's first full-time attorney. Before, the school had someone who was both an auditor and an attorney. Now, the school houses a full-time auditor and a full-time attorney.
So, when the announcement from Valparaiso University came up on a National Association of College University Attorneys listserv, Farha wanted to check the opportunity out.
"It kind of seemed up my alley to be the first full-time attorney and so I went to their Web site," he said. "I had heard about Valparaiso University before, and researched the school a bit, looked like a really neat school, read a little bit about their president, seemed like a really neat person. The town seemed really neat, the job seemed really neat."
Farha says he was happy at PSU, but he was looking to take the next step in his career. Everything seemed to fall in place before the move: He qualifies for the majority of jobs that require five to 10 years of experience and his kids were young enough they could move.
Although he's had six years of experience in higher educational law, he didn't even know the field existed when he graduated from PSU in 1995 with a bachelor's in business administration. Farha worked in outside sales from 1995 to 1998, but it wasn't long before he started thinking of bigger goals.
Farha went on to get his MBA from the Washburn University School of Business and his JD from the University of Kansas School of Law. From 2001 to 2003, he practiced law in Pittsburg. Then Farha found his match - higher education law. He started working for PSU as the general counsel in the summer of 2003.
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