On May 15, 2024, CWRU School of Law held its tenth annual Celebration of Faculty. Co-Dean Michael Scharf kicked things off by summarizing some of the things the faculty can be particularly proud of this year. “Our faculty is ranked #36 in scholarly impact by the Sisk study, measured by citations and downloads of their works,” he reported. “We are ranked as the #26 best teaching faculty by Princeton Review. And our law school is ranked 42nd best in the nation by US News for the quality of our specialty areas, which has everything to do with our faculty experts.”
During the event, Berg and Scharf bestowed a faculty chair, the Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law, to Victor Flatt. Scharf noted that a Chaired Professorship “is the highest distinction in legal academia."
Next, Co-Dean Jessica Berg and Associate Dean Laura McNally recognized several named scholar positions: Aleksandar Cuic was appointed the Gwen and Austin Fragomen Distinguished Practitioner in the Immigration Law Clinic, Andrew Geronimo was appointed the Inaugural Director of the Stanton First Amendment Clinic, John Yirga was appointed the Joseph Hubach and Colleen O’Connor Distinguished Practitioner in the IP Venture Clinic, and Robert Rapp was appointed the Louis C. greenwood Lecturer in Residence. Berg then announced the winner of the Faculty Extraordinary Service Prize (Eric Chaffee).
In addition, Associate Dean Jessie Hill announced the Faculty Distinguished Scholarship Prize (awarded to Juliet Kostritsky) and Associate Dean Avi Cover announced the student-selected Teachers of the Year Awards: 1L Professor of the Year Sharona Hoffman, LLM Professor of the Year Jack Turner, and Teacher of the Year Michael Benza. Next, Cover announced the winner of the Judge Richard M. Markus Adjunct Teacher Award: David Kutik. Cover also recognized adjunct professors Steven Anway and Forrest Stanley for their ten years of teaching milestone.
Co-Dean Scharf concluded the event by congratulating the faculty on the 69 scholarly articles they placed at Boston College, Boston University, Columbia, Harvard, University of Michigan, Ohio State, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, and other prestigious law school journals. In addition, he praised faculty who published 13 books this year: Jonathan Adler, Eric Chaffee, Atiba Ellis, Victor Flatt, Paul Giannelli, Lewis Katz, Daniel Jaffe, Andrew Pollis, Robert Rapp, Cassandra Robertson and Katharine VanTassel.