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Hall News
LEVY SELECTED
DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW KU Law School’s Richard E. Levy has been selected as the first holder of the J.B. Smith Distinguished Professorship in Constitutional Law. Levy joined the KU Law faculty in 1985. He teaches Administrative Law, Constitutional Law and Legislation, and he runs the Legislative and Public Policy Clinics. He has established himself as an engaged, dedicated teacher and mentor. “Since joining the faculty, he has distinguished himself in every way possible, as a scholar and teacher, as a mentor to students and as an engaged and supportive faculty colleague,” said Gail Agrawal, dean of the law school. Levy is a prolific scholar, focusing on the areas of governmental institutions, federalism, legislation, the legislative process, judicial review of administrative agencies, comparative constitutional law and legal systems.
He is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on the intersection of constitutional and administrative law. He was a Postlethwaite Research Scholar from 1996-99. Levy is also committed to service. He is currently president of the University Faculty Senate. He is regularly called upon by the practicing bar, state agencies, the legislature and the central university for assistance in his areas of expertise. Levy received his law degree from the University of Chicago in 1984 and served as a law clerk to Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1984-85. He has studied in Germany and served as an exchange professor at the University of Vienna. He holds a master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas. Levy’s nomination for the distinguished professorship was approved by a unanimous vote of the law faculty and unanimously supported by the university’s Distinguished Professors’ Committee. The professorship was established by Art Piculell, L’65 and his wife Dee in honor and memory of Piculell’s constitutional law professor, the late J.B. Smith.
FORMER JAPANESE CONSUL GENERAL LECTURES AT DIPLOMAT’S FORUM
Takao Shibata, the former Consul General of Japan in Kansas City, presented a public lecture titled “The United Nations and America: A Japanese Perspective” at KU Law in March. Shibata’s presentation was part of the Diplomat’s Forum, a prestigious annual event co-sponsored by the KU Law School and the KU Center for East Asian Studies. Dean Gail Agrawal said the Diplomat’s Forum is the most important international legal event presented by the law school. The event’s aim is to provide a platform for an open sharing of thoughts on international relations, the law and the United States through the unique perspective of someone with experience in diplomatic service. Shibata was the 2006-07 University of Kansas Chancellor’s Lecturer. In this capacity he presented lectures for the KU Center for East Asian Studies and in other disciplines throughout the university. He also spent time meeting with groups of students, faculty and community members to share his knowledge and experiences as an economist and diplomat and his role in the drafting of the Kyoto Protocol. Shibata was Consul General of Japan in Kansas City, Mo., from 2002 until the Kansas City office was closed in 2004. He has also served in the Japanese embassies in Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden and Zimbabwe and in the position of Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations. Shibata was chairman of the drafting committee for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, an agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on the reduction of greenhouse gases.
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Fall/Winter 2007
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UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAW