John “Jack” H. Minan has been a Professor of Law at USD since 1979. Currently, he teaches Property, Land Use Planning and Water Law. Prior to joining USD, Professor Minan taught at the University of Toledo College of Law and at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland. He also taught at the National Judicial College as the lead faculty member of an exchange program designed to introduce Russian judges to the American legal system. At USD, Professor Minan has taught a variety of law courses, including Torts, Community Property, Trusts and Estates, Estate Planning, Federal Estate and Gift Tax, and Comparative Law. 
Jack has a B.S. from the University of Louisville, an M.B.A. from the University of Kentucky, and a J.D. from the University of Oregon. He has completed Ph.D. course work in Operations Analysis at American University. Following law school, Jack was selected for the U.S. Department of Justice Honors Program. In the early 1970's, he practiced admiralty law as a trial attorney with the Civil Division in Washington, D.C.
Jack has been the educational leader for a number of continuing legal education programs and has been the leader of programs in Brazil, the People’s Republic of China, Austria, Switzerland, France, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Morocco, Egypt and in several republics of the former Soviet Union. 
Professor Minan is an active scholar. He has authored or co-authored six books, four contributions to books, more than thirty-five scholarly articles, and a number of published reports and proceedings. At the outset of his career, his scholarship focused on the legal problems associated with the development of solar energy. His work established him as one of the few national experts in this area. His scholarship also includes a number of publications on socialist legal systems. More recently, his interest has shifted to commercial law and water law. He has a treatise on leasing law under Article 2A of the Uniform Commercial Code and has published articles on water quality.
Professor Minan has served on numerous Law School and University committees at USD. He has been Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Acting Dean of Summer Programs, and the Director of USD’s International and Comparative Law Programs at Trinity College, Dublin, at Magdalen College, Oxford, and in Florence, Italy. He also served on the USD search committee for the Vice President for Finance and Administration.
Professor Minan has an active record of public service.  He served two terms on the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (1999-2006), and was elected its chairman six consecutive years (2001-2006).   Jack was on the Governing Board of the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, an organization consisting of seventeen state and federal agencies (2001-2006).  He served on San Diego River Conservancy, a state agency dedicated to acquiring and managing public lands adjacent to the San Diego River (2003-2006), and was its vice chairman (2005-2006). 
Jack is active with the American Bar Association (ABA).  Professor Minan is chairman of Environmental Law Committee of the State and Local Government Section (2005-2007), and is an active member of the Section of Environment, Energy and Resources.  For several years, he was a pro bono hearing officer for the San Diego Housing Commission.  He coauthored the citizen’s Clean Air Initiative amending  San Diego’s General Plan.  In 1991, he prepared the environmental assessment for San Diego’s proposed Jackson Drive extension through Mission Trails Regional Park.  He has qualified as an expert witness on matters involving Land Use Planning and Real Property.