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UGA LAW PROFESSOR NAMED FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR

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Monday, March 27, 2000

WRITER: Kathy R. Pharr, (706) 542-5172, pharr@arches.uga.edu

CONTACT: Tom Schoenbaum, (706) 542-5140

UGA LAW PROFESSOR NAMED FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR

ATHENS, Ga. - Thomas J. Schoenbaum, Dean and Virginia Rusk Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law, has been selected for a Fulbright Scholar award, the sixth Fulbright award of his academic career.

Schoenbaum will hold the Fulbright-Innsbruck Chair for the 2000-01 academic year, during which time he will accept the Distinguished Chair of International Law at the University of Innsbruck for the summer semester of 2001. While in Austria, Schoenbaum will research the human rights record of the Freedom Party and will teach courses in international business transactions and international law.

Schoenbaum previously held Fulbright Scholarships in Belgium (2), Germany, the former Soviet Union and South Africa. Alan Schecter, chair of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, noted of Schoenbaum in his award letter, "Your impressive academic accomplishments have made possible your selection for the Fulbright Program. We know that you will exemplify the same standards of excellence when you become a representative of the American people abroad. In so doing, you help fulfill the principal purpose of the Fulbright Program, to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and those of other countries."

Schoenbaum holds a B.A. degree (summa cum laude from St. Joseph's College in Indiana); a D.E.S.S. (diplôme d'etudes supérieurs specialisées) from the University of Leuven (Belgium); a J.D. (juris doctor) degree in law (with distinction) from the University of Michigan; and a Ph.D. in international and comparative law from the University of Cambridge (U.K.).

Schoenbaum directed UGA's Dean Rusk Center for International and Comparative Law for the past 17 years, returning to regular teaching duties in January. In July, he will assume the executive directorship of UGA's proposed Center for European Studies.

Under Schoenbaum's leadership, the Rusk Center established itself as a world-class research center whose scholarship is published by leading houses and journals such as the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and the American Journal of International Law. A recent search revealed that the Rusk Center's work has been cited over 2,000 times, including 5 times by the U.S. Supreme Court and over 600 times by federal and state courts. Research is conducted with scholars around the globe on such topics as trade and environment, the use of force, and women in international law.Schoenbaum and the Rusk Center staff worked to help establish a new constitution in South Africa, stimulate investment and economic development in Africa, create new programs of international law in Colombia and Brazil, settle disputes between the U.S. and Japan, and enact NAFTA. They also worked to enhance economic development in Georgia by participating in the Georgia Export Assistance Network and collaborating with the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Georgia State Bar Association, various chambers of commerce, business groups, and Atlanta consulates to organize and produce international conferences on topics such as exporting goods and services and investment in the state.

In addition, Rusk Center researchers paid tribute to former Secretary of State Dean Rusk by organizing his papers and contributing the Dean Rusk Collection to UGA's Russell Library. Oral history interviews were recorded and a biography on Mr. Rusk, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, was written.

Under Schoenbaum, the Rusk Center enhanced international education at UGA by working with other schools and departments on interdisciplinary research, teaching, and study abroad programs. In 1996, the center moved into offices of a new university building, Dean Rusk Hall.

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