Wendy Tolson Ross, Professor of Law Professor Ross was a panelist at the Texas Tech University Conference on the Advancement of Women in Higher Education in April. The presentation focused on women and scholarship in the academy. The panel was comprised of women faculty across several disciplines in the university. At the National Business Institute “Estate Planning for Farmers and Ranchers” Continuing Legal Education seminar in Lubbock on July 31, Professor Ross presented her paper titled “Survivor Spouse’s Rights and Homestead Exemption” (Wendy T. Ross, Presentation at National Business Institute’s Estate Planning for Farmers and Ranchers: Survivor Spouse’s Right and Homestead Exception (July 31, 2013)). Brian Shannon, Charles “Tex” Thornton Professor of Law, Texas Tech University Faculty Athletics Representative, and Professor of Law Professor Shannon received two awards in April. First, the Texas Tech Parents Association honored him with the campus-wide 2013 Faculty Distinguished Leadership Award. Later that month, Texas Tech Law Review bestowed the Outstanding Lead Article Award for Volume 45 (2012–2013) to Professor Shannon and his coauthor, Dr. Victor Scarano, for their article, “Incompetency to Be Executed: Continuing Ethical Challenges & Time for a Change in Texas,” 45 Texas Tech Law Review 420 (Winter 2013) (Brian D. Shannon and Victor R. Scarano, Incompetency to be Executed: Continuing Ethical Challenges & Time for a Change in Texas, 45 TEX. TECH. L. REV. 419 (2013)). Professor Shannon will
begin the second year of his two-year term in September as national president of 1A FAR, the organization of NCAA faculty athletics representatives for NCAA Division I FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) institutions. In this role, Professor Shannon addressed the NCAA national convention in January on the subject of the NCAA rules revision process. He also spearheaded the 1A FAR national conference in Dallas late September, where he spoke on the subject of NCAA Governance. Other participating speakers included NCAA President Mark Emmert and ESPN commentator Jay Bilas. Professor Shannon also spoke on “2013 Legislative Update: Revisions to the Texas Mental Health Code” at the Texas Behavioral Health Institute in Austin, in July (Brian Shannon, Presentation at Texas Behavioral Health Institute’s Living and Working with Choices and Changes: 2013 Legislative Update: Revisions to the Texas Mental Health Code (July 24, 2013)). He also discussed “NCAA Governance and Compliance & the Overlap with the Practice of Law” at the June Lubbock Area Bar Association luncheon. Victoria Sutton, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Biodefense, Law and Public Policy, Director of the Law and Science Concentration Program, and Director of the J.D./M.S. Program in Life Sciences Dean Sutton contributed chapters for two books published by Oxford University Press and Edward Elgar Publishing: Chapter 26 “Emergencies, Disasters, Conflicts, and Human Rights” (Victoria Sutton, Emergencies, Disasters, Conflicts, and Human
Rights, in ADVANCING THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH 379 (Zuniga et al., eds., 2013)); and “Fiji: Climate Change, Tradition and Vanua” (Victoria Sutton, Fiji: Climate Change, Tradition and Vanua, in CLIMATE CHANGE AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLES: THE SEARCH FOR LEGAL REMEDIES 363 (Randall S. Abate & Elizabeth Ann Kronk, eds., 2013). She also authored a law review article in Health Matrix titled “Asking the Right Questions: Body Scanners, is Salus Populi Supreme Lex the Answer?” (Victoria Sutton, Asking the Right Questions: Body Scanners, is Salus Populi Supreme Lex the Answer?, 22 HEALTH MATRIX 443 (2013)). Dean Sutton continues to serve on the Advisory Board of the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center. She was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Texas A&M Center for Innovation to work on its new Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) Vaccine Manufacturing Center.