Law school celebrates faculty achievements and contributions

faculty awards dinner 2025

CWRU School of Law recently held its eleventh celebration of faculty, an annual event to recognize the achievements and contributions of faculty members during the previous school year. 

The celebration included the presentation of endowed chairs to two faculty members, Eric Chaffee and Betsy Rosenblatt. Chaffee was appointed the John C. Hutchins Professorship, with Dean Paul Rose citing his prolific publications, activity and leadership in various legal professional organizations. The Tom J.E. and Bette Lou Walker Professorship, previously held by Jessica Berg, was granted to Betsy Rosenblatt in recognition of her vast experience in intellectual property litigation, entertainment, copyright, trademark and patent law. 

In addition to the presentation of endowed chairs, Dean Rose announced that Anat Alon Beck has been promoted to full professor with tenure, Jaime Bouvier and Joe Custer have been promoted to full professor and Liam Dunn has been promoted to associate professor. 

Sharona Hoffman and Jennifer Cupar were jointly presented with an Outstanding Faculty Service Award in recognition of their contributions this academic year. The Distinguished Research Prize was granted to Cassandra Burke Robertson. 

Avidan Cover presented the Judge Richard M. Markus Adjunct Award for Excellence in Teaching to Stacy Cozart Martin, who was also recognized for five years of service. Adjunct professors Rita Bryce, Deena Calabrese, Aaron Caputo, Ashlyn Carroll, Collin Jennings, Angela Lydon, Beth Nagusky, Sarah Polly and Kyleigh Weinfurtner were also recognized for five years of service. Theodore Parran III was recognized for 10 years of service to the law school, and Marvin Sicherman, who is still teaching at 90 years of age, received a round of applause for his long-standing commitment to CWRU Law. 

Andrew Pollis was voted Teacher of the Year by the student body, while Jack Turner was granted with LLM Professor of the Year. Craig Nard was named 1L Professor of the Year. 

To end the ceremony, Victor Flatt recognized Jonathan Adler’s years of service to CWRU Law as director of the Environmental Law Center as Adler prepares to depart the faculty this summer. Jenn Cupar and Leilani Marshall jointly recognized Avidan Cover’s six years serving as associate dean for academic affairs as he prepares to return to teaching. Ayesha Bell Hardaway presented Bryan Adamson with an award recognizing his previous years of service as associate dean for diversity and inclusion.