Distinguished Faculty Award | Fund for Faculty Excellence | Sustainability Awards | Hollis Award | Meritorious Service Award | Pillar Award
The Oregon Law faculty are known for their diverse legal backgrounds and expertise. The law faculty maintains a consistently high reputation for scholarship and teaching among judges, attorneys and other law school professors throughout the Unites States.
Oregon Law’s faculty have been recognized for several University of Oregon honors and awards. These programs recognize their skills as teachers and innovations in scholarship and research.
University of Oregon Distinguished Faculty Award
Each year, the university selects 10 faculty members for the prestigious Distinguished Teaching Awards (Thomas F. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy and the Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching), the UO’s highest teaching honor. These outstanding faculty members, nominated by students, faculty, and staff, each represent what it means to practice inclusive, engaged, and research-led teaching in their classrooms and alongside their colleagues.

2019 UO Distinguished Teaching Awards
Sharing a common goal.
"It makes a difference that we are committed to establishing a common goal of reading and understanding a text, discerning where those ideas came from, what work they do for the reader’s understanding of the world, and what the reader will do with those ideas long after they leave my classes or the university."
Michelle McKinley, Thomas F. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy in Undergraduate Legal Studies and Bernard B. Kliks Professor of Law
Thomas F. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy
YEAR | RECIPIENT |
---|---|
2019 | Michelle McKinley, Undergraduate Legal Studies |
2016 | Elizabeth Ruiz Frost, Legal Research and Writing |
2014 | Suzanne Rowe, Legal Writing and Research |
Thomas F. Herman Faculty Achievement Award for Distinguished Teaching
year | recipient |
---|---|
1992 | Dominick Vetri |
1990 | James Mooney |
The Ersted Award for Distinguished Teaching
YEAR | RECIPIENT(S) |
---|---|
2012 | Jennifer W. Reynolds |
2006 | Tom Lininger |
2004 | Michael L. Moffitt |
1994 | Mary C. Wood |
Fund for Faculty Excellence
The fund is designed to support the university’s strategic commitment to improve its overall academic quality and reputation by rewarding, recognizing, and retaining nationally competitive faculty who have a record of distinction in their quality of scholarship and creative accomplishment, contribution to their respective field, and contribution to the university.
2021 Fund for Faculty Excellence Awardee
Jennifer W. Reynolds
Professor; Associate Dean of Faculty Research and Programs; Faculty Director, ADR Center

Reynolds teaches civil procedure, conflict of laws, negotiation, and dispute systems design. Her research interests include media and social media impacts on public disputes, problem-solving in multiparty scenarios, plea bargaining and specialty courts, and cultural influences and implications of alternative processes. She is the Associate Dean of Faculty Research and Programs for the law school and also the Faculty Director of the nationally ranked Oregon ADR Center. She has served in numerous national roles with the ADR Section of the Association of American Law Schools and the American Bar Association Dispute Resolution Section.
Year | Recipient(s) |
---|---|
2019 | Erik Girvan, Elizabeth “Liz” Tippett |
2016 | Stuart Chinn |
2014 | Adell Amos |
2013 | Michelle McKinley |
2008 | Tom Lininger |
2007 | Michael Moffitt |
University of Oregon Sustainability Awards
The sustainability award program& recognizes individuals whose contributions deepen our culture of sustainability across a range of institutional activities.
2019 Innovation Award Recipient
Mary Wood
Philip H. Knight Professor
Faculty Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center
Wood was selected for developing a legal pathway called Atmospheric Legal Trust Litigation. This new legal theory applies the public trust principal to the current climate emergency – and also makes way for a litigation pathway where citizens can sue their government to force the protection of the vital climate system that supports survival.
“We’re not focused on one small thing here or another small thing there. We’ve got the complete global vision of what scientists say is necessary to save our climate system.”

YEAR | RECIPIENT(S) |
---|---|
2019 | Mary Wood, Innovation Award |
Faculty Excellence in Universal Design Award
Excellence in Universal Design involves the development of flexible curriculum and instruction to ensure equity and access for all learners.
YEAR | RECIPIENT(S) |
---|---|
2019 | Megan Austin |
Oregon Law Orlando John Hollis Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award
This award is given to the School of Law’s outstanding teacher to reward excellence in classroom instruction.
year | recipient(s) |
---|---|
2022 |
Stuart Chinn |
2021 | Elizabeth Frost |
2020 | Rebekah Hanley |
2019 | Susan Gary |
2018 | Megan McAlpin |
2017 | Michelle McKinley |
2016 | Erik Girvan and Dave Frohnmayer (honorary; awarded posthumously) |
2015 | Joan Rocklin |
2014 | Michael Fakhri |
2013 | Mohsen Manesh |
2012 | Jennifer Reynolds |
2011 | Tom Lininger |
2010 | Suzanne Rowe |
2009 | Adell Amos |
2008 | Andrea Coles-Bjerre |
2007 | Robert Tsai |
2006 | Joseph C. Metcalfe |
2005 | Carl S. Bjerre |
2004 | Michael Moffitt |
2003 | Garrett Epps |
2002 | Mary C. Wood |
2001 | Steve Bender |
2000 | Nancy Shurtz |
1999 | R. James Mooney |
1998 | Robin Morris Collin |
1997 | Dominick Vetri |
1996 | Margaret Paris |
1995 | Caroline Forell |
1994 | Lisa Kloppenberg |
1993 | David Schuman |
1992 | Fred Merrill |
1991 | Leslie Harris |
1990 | Mary Lawrence |
Oregon Law Meritorious Service Award
This award is given each year at commencement to both faculty and non-faculty members who have made extraordinary contributions to legal education or to the legal profession.
year | recipient(s) |
---|---|
2022 | Megan McAlpin |
2021 | Lauren Elizabeth-Barthé Charles, JD ’11, and Ibrahim Gassama |
2019 | Caroline Forell |
2018 | Margie Paris |
2017 | Leslie Harris |
2016 | Howard Arnett |
2015 | Dominick Vetri |
2014 | The Hon. John Acosta and Dean Emeritus Eugene Scoles |
2013 | The Hon. David Schuman |
2012 | The Hon. Procter Hug, Jr. |
2011 | James O’Fallon and The Hon. Martha Walters |
2010 | Carolyn S. Chambers and Mary S. Lawrence |
2009 | Merv Loya |
2008 | Rennard Strickland |
2007 | The Hon. Dorothy W. Nelson |
2006 | The Hon. Wallace P. Carson, Jr. and Phyllis Barkhurst |
2005 | Alice Plymell |
2004 | The Hon. Ronald L. Wyden and The Hon. Stephen Reinhardt |
2003 | The Hon. Ellen Rosenblum |
2002 | Norman J. Wiener and Minoru Yasui |
2001 | Ray and Lois Ackerman |
2000 | The Hon. Helen J. Frye |
1999 | The Hon. Sandra Day O’Connor and Frank Lacy |
1998 | Hardy Myers |
1997 | Wendell Wyatt |
1996 | Noreen K. Saltveit and Otto Frohnmayer |
1995 | Anthony Yturri and Oglesby Young |
1994 | Arthur C. Johnson and Sidney I. Lezak |
1993 | Jeannette C. Hayner, John L. Luvaas, Eugene F. Scoles |
1992 | John E. Jaqua and Frank E. Nash |
1991 | Chapin D. Clark |
1990 | John H. Van Landingham |
1989 | The Hon. Alfred T. Goodwin and The Hon. Edwin J. Peterson |
1988 | The Hon. Roland K. Rodman, The Hon. Richard L. Unis |
1987 | Hans A. Linde |
1986 | Richard W. Nahstoll |
1985 | Kenneth J. O’Connell and Lois I. Baker |
1984 | Orlando John Hollis and William G. East |
Pillar of the Community Award
Awarded by students, this recognizes faculty who make a positive impact on the Oregon Law community through their leadership, service, example, support of others, and overall contributions that enhance the law school.
YEAR | RECIPIENT(S) |
---|---|
2018-19 | Roberta Mann |
2017-18 | Joan Rocklin |
2016-17 | Tom Lininger |
2015-16 | Mary Wood |
2014-15 | Margie Paris |