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.
Distinguished Faculty Award | Fund for Faculty Excellence | Sustainability Award | Hollis Award | Meritorious Service Award | Pillar of the Community Award
University of Oregon Distinguished Faculty Awards
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 Thomas F. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy Recipient: Michelle McKinley
Bernard B. Kliks Professor of Law
"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."
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) |
|---|---|
| 2015 | Alaí Reyes-Santos |
| 2014 | Daniel Tichenor |
| 2012 | Jennifer Reynolds |
| 2004 | Michael Moffitt |
| 1994 | Mary 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 Recipient: Jennifer W. Reynolds
Professor; Associate Dean for Academic Affairs; 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 for Academic Affairs at 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) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Jennifer Reynolds |
| 2020 | Michael Fakhri |
| 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.
2022 Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient: Alaí Reyes-Santos
Professor of Practice
The Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes faculty who have developed pedagogy and curriculum that reinforce and advance principles of sustainability through course design and instruction.
“When students get to work together across disciplines, they learn about teamwork, listening across difference, that different fields of study provide something new that maybe they hadn't thought of before.”
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) |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Alaí Reyes-Santos, Excellence in Teaching Award |
| 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) |
|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Suzanne Rowe |
| 2021-22 | Megan McAlpin |
| 2019-20 | Jennifer Reynolds |
| 2018-19 | Roberta Mann |
| 2017-18 | Joan Rocklin |
| 2016-17 | Tom Lininger |
| 2015-16 | Mary Wood |
| 2014-15 | Margie Paris |