Faculty Awards and Honors

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 ExcellenceSustainability Award | Hollis Award Meritorious Service Award | Pillar of the Community Award


AnchorUniversity 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.  

 

 

Michelle McKinley

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."

Learn more about McKinley

 


Thomas F. Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy  

YEAR

RECIPIENT

2023

Michael Moffitt, Honors College

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

2006

Thomas Lininger

2004

Michael Moffitt

1994

Mary Wood

 


AnchorFund 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. 

image of Jennifer Reynolds, a smiling woman with short brown hair and blue eyes

 

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

 

 


AnchorUniversity 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.”

Watch Reyes-Santos' Sustainability Award Interview

images of woman in white jacket smiling

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.”

Watch Wood's Sustainability Award Interview​​​​​

 

Mary Wood

 

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

 

 


AnchorOregon 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)

2024

Andrew Winden

2023

Liz Tippett

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

 


AnchorOregon 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)

2024

Susan Gary

2023

The Hon. Adrienne Nelson

2022

Megan McAlpin

2021

Lauren Elizabeth-Barthé Charles( JD ’11), 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  


 

AnchorPillar 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)

2023-24

Greg Dotson

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