Mark Gordon was selected as president and dean of William Mitchell College of Law in 2015, and he continued as dean and president with the merger that produced Mitchell Hamline School of Law (MHSL). Gordon earned his B.A. from Columbia (1981), an M.A. from its School of International Affairs (1982), and his J.D. from Harvard Law School (1990). He was an assistant to New York Governor Mario Cuomo (1983-1987), and served under Assistant Secretary Andrew Cuomo at the Department of Housing & Urban Development as a deputy assistant secretary (1993-1996.) He also worked as a teaching fellow/associate at the John F. Kennedy School and Harvard College (1988-1990), and as an associate at Hughes Hubbard & Reed (1990-1992). Gordon taught at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (associate professor, 1996-2002); and directed the Urban Habitat Project at Columbia from 1997-2002. He then became dean and professor of law at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law (2002-09), and the president of Defiance College (2009-2015) before coming to Mitchell.
During his decanal tenure, MHSL completed a successful combination, expanded its blended learning program, and significantly increased diversity at the law school. He returned to full-time teaching at MHSL at the end of his deanship.