Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has appointed Timothy Mulrooney (’94) to serve as a district judge in the state’s 2nd Judicial District, which encompasses Ramsey County. In making the appointment, Dayton praised Mulrooney for the “commitment to justice and service” he had demonstrated throughout his “exceptional career.”
University President Eric Kaler has awarded the prestigious McKnight Presidential Professorship—one of the highest honors a University of Minnesota faculty member can receive—to Ruth Okediji, who has been the Law School’s William L. Prosser Professor of Law since 2003. Okediji is the third member of the Law School faculty to be so honored; the others are Susan Wolf (2006) and Michael Tonry (2011).
The Heisman Trust has announced that Alan Page (’78), a former Minnesota Supreme Court justice and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, will be honored with the 2016 Heisman Humanitarian Award. Page will be the 11th recipient of the award. He was selected, the trust said in a statement, in recognition of his “tireless efforts in assisting students of color achieve their dreams in furthering their education.”
Executive vice president and provost Karen Hanson has announced that the University of Minnesota’s first Grand Challenges Grants, totaling $3.6 million in support, have been awarded to 29 teams of faculty from across the Twin Cities campus. The interdisciplinary teams include five principal investigators (PIs) from the Law School faculty: Professors Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Myron Orfield, Hari Osofsky, Francis Shen, and Susan Wolf. Working in alignment with Driving Tomorrow, the campus’s overarching strategic plan, the teams will address critical challenges facing Minnesota and the world.
Brendan Delany (’17) has been named the winner of the 2016 Admiral John S. Jenkins Prize for Excellence in Military Studies for his essay “Just Wars with Unjust Allies: Use of Force and Human Rights Considerations on the Russian Intervention in Syria.” The essay competition is conducted by the National Institute of Military Justice and is open to all students of military law who have not yet completed their J.D. studies. Submissions are judged by a committee of law professors and practitioners.
Lawrence D. “Larry” Cohen (’57), former mayor of St. Paul, chairman of the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, and chief judge of the Ramsey County District Court—the only person ever to have held all three of those positions—died Sept. 11 at his home in St. Paul, surrounded by his family. The cause was lung cancer, diagnosed three weeks before his death.
