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2015 Penn Law Teaching Awards |
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July 14, 2015, Volume 62, No. 01 |
The University of Pennsylvania Law School recognizes excellence in teaching with five teaching awards for the 2014-2015 academic year. The recipients are: Shyamkrishna Balganesh (A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course); R. Polk Wagner (Robert A. Gorman Award for Excellence in Teaching); Joseph Sedlack (Adjunct Teaching Award); Gideon Parchomovsky (inaugural LLM Teaching Award) and Catherine Struve (Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence).
A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course
Shyam Balganesh, professor of law, specializes in intellectual property and innovation policy and focuses on how those fields can benefit from the use of ideas, concepts and structures from different areas of the common law—especially private law. This year, he taught Property, Copyright and Modern American Legal Theory.
Students said, “Professor Balganesh is stellar. This course was everything I was looking for when coming to law school. His style of teaching engaged me and led me to read every single case in full and with a higher level of analysis. His approach to property changed the way that I prepare and read cases, and I am quite pleased with my choice to take property with him.” “He really draws out information from the cases that are ‘hidden’ or buried that I never would’ve spotted.” “This course definitely made me think about law, legal reasoning and judicial opinions in a way that will make me not only a better student, but a better lawyer.”
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Robert A. Gorman Award for Excellence in Teaching
R. Polk Wagner, professor of law, focuses his research on intellectual property law and policy, with a special interest in patent law. This year, a team from his Patent Law Appellate Advocacy course won the AIPLA National Patent Law Moot Court competition. He also taught Intro to Intellectual Property Law and Policy.
Students said, “Prof. Wagner’s really great at asking the class to explore the policy under the law and why the law is the way it is.” “He is great at getting policy discussions going and getting people to speak their minds.” “Professor Wagner’s excitement for the topics really showed through in the course, and his ability to tie in his own research with the subject matter made students think about the unsettled areas of the law.”
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Adjunct Teaching Award
Joseph Sedlack, adjunct professor of law, is a partner at Reed Smith, LLP, where he specializes in corporate, partnership, real estate, mergers, acquisitions, international tax, and estate and tax planning. He is also an adjunct instructor at the Wharton School, where he lectures on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions. This year, he taught Corporate Taxation.
Students said, “Extremely engaging and capable professor. Easily one of my favorite law school classes.” “Professor Sedlack does a fantastic job of bringing the material to life by using examples, problems, and telling stories about his experiences as a tax lawyer.” “Professor Sedlack is one of the best professors I’ve had in law school. He is extremely engaging and explains complicated concepts very well.”
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LLM Teaching Award
Gideon Parchomovsky, the Robert G. Fuller, Jr. Professor of Law, specializes in intellectual property, property law and cyber law and has written numerous articles for major law reviews on property and liability rules, insider trading, trademarks, domain names and patents. Since joining the Law School in 2002, he has received the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course. This year, he taught Copyright and Trademarks.
Students said, “Prof. Parchomovsky was incredibly motivating and passionate about his material! He also asked very thought provoking questions.” “He’s definitely interested in the material—it’s all up to date, relevant and real world applicable. That sort of interest and energy really rubs off in class and makes you want to learn more.” “Professor Parchomovksy is very passionate about this subject and inspires that same passion in his students.”
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Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence
By democratic vote, the Penn Law 2015 graduating class selected Catherine Struve, professor of law, to receive the Harvey Levin Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence. She joined the Law School in 2005 and teaches and researches in the fields of civil procedure and federal courts. She also serves as reporter to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules and as reporter to a Third Circuit task force that has prepared model jury instructions in civil cases. This is her third time receiving the Harvey Levin Award, having also received the award in 2003 and 2009. This year, she taught Civil Procedure, Federal Indian Law and Advanced Problems in Federal Procedure.
Students said, “Professor Struve is the best—respectful in class, accessible outside of class, and always helpful.” “Professor Struve is a wonderful discussion facilitator. Because of the small class size, we were often able to discuss interesting topics that were not part of the core material to be covered—but Professor Struve also made sure not to compromise any of the core material either.” “Professor Struve is one of the best teachers at the law school.”
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Almanac -
July 14, 2015, Volume 62, No. 01
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