Engaged Scholarship at UC Hastings

The academic reputation of UC Hastings is based on the engaged scholarship of our renowned faculty. That academic reputation is the single most important factor in our ranking. Thanks to our professors, it is at an extraordinarily high level. Even as we reinvent legal education, our commitment to our status as a major research institution remains constant.

Returning from a year of service as Counselor on International Law at the State Department, where he worked directly with the Legal Adviser, Professor William S. Dodge has become our Associate Dean for Research to support our intellectual endeavors. Bill's stature in his field was recognized when he was named by the American Law Institute as a Reporter for the next Restatement of Foreign Relations Law. The American Law Institute is the most selective organization within the legal profession, and its Restatements are acknowledged as definitive.

Our faculty brings together peers from other schools and other disciplines to share ideas and effect change. Most recently, Associate Dean David Faigman and Professor Jaime King, who serve as Director and Associate Director of the UC Hastings-UCSF Consortium, convened a conference on advances in genetic technology. These changes create new ethical dilemmas for society and new decisions for individuals.

Our professors have always literally written the book -- since the days of the 65 Club, when students on our campus bragged to their friends on other campuses that their instruction came from the very author of the leading treatise. The tradition continues. I'll mention only a couple of examples. Professor John Leshy, an authority on water law, just published a new edition of his casebook. Professor Osagie Obasogie is finishing his forthcoming volume from a leading university press, already award winning, on how the blind "see" race.

The scholars who teach at UC Hastings have decided in our strategic plan to emphasize "engaged scholarship." The Board of Directors approved of this plan, which emphasizes how advancement of knowledge is a responsibility of every great institution of higher education. Our work translates theory into practice. By doing so, we prove our social value.

Professor Faigman's writing on expert testimony was relied upon in a recent California Supreme Court decision. Professor Scott Dodson, who joined us as a lateral hire just this academic year, is regularly cited by the courts for his work on civil procedure. Professor Chimène Keitner also has been cited by the courts for her work on foreign official immunity. Professor Robin Feldman, who oversees our law and science program as well as the innovation clinics, has been widely quoted in the media on high-profile intellectual property litigation.

This brief message cannot do justice to the subject of scholarship at UC Hastings. I must mention Professor Darien Shanske, who just received the prestigious Foundation Faculty Award. His work ranges for state and local taxation to Thucydides.

More detailed reports on UC Hastings faculty scholarship can be found on the Engaged Scholarship Blog on the UC Hastings Website. I also encourage you to subscribe to the new UC Hastings Research Paper Series at SSRN by clicking on this link and registering with SSRN. Subscribers to this free service will receive an email approximately once a month with abstracts of new articles written by our faculty.

I am proud of my colleagues. They are among the best in their fields.

-Frank H. Wu

Frank H. Wu
Chancellor & Dean
UC Hastings

http://www.uchastings.edu
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-h-wu/