Lewis & Clark President Thomas Hochstettler said the gain was due in large measure to the strategic efforts of the law school faculty and staff and the leadership of Law School Dean Robert Klonoff, who joined the law school in 2007.“Bob has done an incredible job building on the strengths of the school and raising its visibility,” Hochstettler said. “His leadership has been outstanding and he has made people stop and take notice. The faculty and students could not have a better advocate.”

Law schools are ranked based on a combination of indicators, including:

•    Peer assessment by law school deans, deans of academic affairs, and other selected faculty

•    Legal professionals assessment, including opinions of lawyers and judges

•    Median LSAT scores and median undergraduate GPAs

•    Employment rates for graduates

•    Bar passage rate

•    Student resources such as faculty/student ratios and libraries

Klonoff pointed out that external validation indicators continue to increase, suggesting that key figures in the legal and academic communities were becoming better acquainted with the law school and more impressed.

“It is especially gratifying that our scores for peer assessment and for assessment by judges and lawyers are both up from last year.  This means that word is getting out about everything we’re doing,” Klonoff said. “Knowing you have a great school is fine but having the acknowledgment from others is critically important to our students’ success professionally.”

Lewis & Clark Law School was also ranked second among the top environmental law programs in the country. The environmental law program has been consistently ranked number one or number two for more than a decade. The legal writing program ranked 17.

For the first time, U.S. News assessed part-time law programs and the Lewis & Clark Law School evening program ranked 32. Klonoff attributes this to the fact that the law school maintains the same high standards for both the day and evening programs.

“Our moot court teams performed magnificently against tough competitors, and we are equally proud of our closing argument competitors,” said Pamela Frasch, executive director of the Center for Animal Law Studies. “Judges went out of their way to commended our students for being so well-prepared and articulate.”

Bryan Telegin and Carey Whitehead advanced to the final round of the Appellate Moot Court Competition and won the prize for Best Respondent Brief.

Annmarie Robustelli advanced to become one of only four finalists in the Closing Argument Competition.

“Our coaches, Kathy Hessler and Pamela Frasch, spent an enormous amount of time helping us develop our arguments and understand the finer points of the problem,” Telegin said. “As well, many Lewis & Clark faculty and staff volunteered to coach our rounds and pushed us very hard. I am willing to bet that no other team had as much community-wide involvement leading up to the competition.”

In preparing for the competition, students must have a thorough understanding of the law and the ability to articulate the long-term ramifications of applying a particular ruling.
They also learn different techniques of persuasion than those used when arguing to a jury. While a jury may be persuaded by passion and may ignore the law altogether, an appellate tribunal is primarily motivated by factors such as policy considerations and strong legal precedent.

“The competition gave me an incredible opportunity to enhance my advocacy skills,” Robustelli said. “Not only did I gain a deeper understanding of the law and the judicial process, but the feedback I received from the judges was invaluable.”

In 2008, Lewis & Clark took the championship in the National Center for Animal Law’s National Animal Advocacy Moot Court Competition. Erin Smith and Lauren Goldberg won the competition, with Smith receiving the Best Oralist award. PEAC clinical professor Allison LaPlante served as lead coach for the animal law moot court teams.

In this video, Kathy Hessler, director and clinical professor of the Animal Law Clinic, discusses the ways Lewis & Clark students prepared for this year’s National Animal Law Competition.

For a poet to achieve as much in an entire career would be remarkable, but for Szybist, who joined the Lewis & Clark faculty in 2004, the recent spate of success only extends the stunning trajectory set by her first book, Granted, which was a finalist for the National Book Circle Critic’s Award in Poetry in 2003.

Szybist’s work on her second book of poems, tentatively titled Incarnadine, will be supported by the NEA fellowship, one of the foremost awards in the literary field, which awards $25,000 to published creative writers of exceptional talent, encouraging the production of new work and allowing writers the time and means to write.

“A grant like this is a boost of adrenaline to the writing process,” said Szybist. “As I’ve worked on my current manuscript for the last few years, I have cycled through periods of faith and doubt, both about the poems and the project as a whole. To have the NEA select my work for this distinction is a great gift of validation, and I am eager to return to my manuscript with a renewed sense of vigor and excitement.”

Szybist will also receive $10,000 from the Library of Congress, made possible by a grant from the Witter Bynner Foundation.  The fellowships  are awarded to two poets whose distinctive talents and craftsmanship merit wider recognition. Later this month, Szybist will travel to Washington, D.C. to read her work at the Library as part of the fellowship.

“Mary Szybist’s lovely musical touch is light and exact enough to catch the weight and grind of love. This is a hard paradox to master as she does,” said the Poet Laureate in her announcement of the Library’s Witter Bynner Fellowship.

Szybist’s distinctive poetic voice

Szybist’s colleagues are not at all surprised by her recent achievements. What is now becoming increasingly apparent to the national poetry community has been known at Lewis & Clark for years. Poet Paul Merchant, William Stafford Archivist and Special Collections Associate, said he expects Szybist’s work to continue to win national acclaim.

“Mary’s work in her remarkable debut collection, like that of all original writers, is hard to define simply,” Merchant said. “Her enormous imaginative sympathy allows her to inhabit other beings at their moment of emotional crisis. Then there is her absolute originality, her distinctive voice that speaks without artifice, intimately, conversationally.”

“It is probably foolish to compare poets with each other, but her successful mix of aphoristic simplicity with profound movement of thought is not common,” Merchant said. “I am reminded of poets at both ends of our shared tradition: of Sappho at its very beginning, and of Emily Dickinson, almost our contemporary.”

Sharing her craft with students

“The thing that seems most astonishing about Mary’s accomplishments is their relation to her work here on campus,” said Assistant Professor of English Will Pritchard. “She is an exceptionally devoted teacher and colleague. To give so much time and attention to one’s students’ poems would seem to leave no time for one’s own writing, but clearly Mary has managed not only to do both parts of the job but to excel at them both.  How lovely, and how extraordinary, that she is being honored at the national level even as she fulfills her local duties with such scrupulous care.”

A finalist for 2008 Teacher of the Year, Szybist shares her passion for poetry with students and colleagues alike, inspiring appreciation for the art in the Lewis & Clark community and beyond.

“I feel fortunate to be working at an institution where artists as illustrious as Mary Szybist enhance our daily lives,” said Rishona Zimring, chair of the Department of English. “These recent awards honor Mary’s achievement as a rising star in the poetry world, but perhaps not all great poets are also great teachers: Mary is a gifted one.  The ways she cultivates the love and the discipline of poetry in students are transformative, and immeasurably enrich our community.”

UPDATE: Szybist’s work is featured on the Jim Lerher News Hour (PBS) website for the week of February 9.

Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program offers educational and cultural exchange opportunities to both U.S. citizens and citizens of other nations. Operating in more than 155 countries, it is the largest U.S. international exchange program for students, scholars, and professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. Twenty Lewis & Clark students have received Fulbright awards in the past ten years.

Read about Lewis & Clark’s 2008 Fulbright recipients: Ian Hooper, Katie Loebner, Matthew Nelson, Brandon Nichter, Kate Phillips, and Katherine Spingarn.

Ian Hooper

Hometown:

Gig Harbor, Washington

Majors:

International Affairs and German Studies

Award:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Germany

Previous experience abroad:

Studied abroad junior year, in Munich, Germany

Preparing for his Fulbright work:

“As a double major in international affairs and German studies, I have obtained insight into the political and cultural relations between the United States and Germany and will be using my knowledge of German and American politics to reinforce my teaching of American culture and the English language to German students next year.

“As a German tutor for Lewis & Clark and a member of the International Affairs Symposium Steering Committee, I am used to working with peers and facilitating knowledge and ideas in group and peer-to-peer settings.”

Plans for the future:

“I plan to get involved with a multinational corporation, working between Germany and the United States. A new passion of mine, cultivated last year while working in the German Parliament in Berlin for a renewable energies politician, is international environmental policy and sustainable development. I would very much welcome the opportunity to get involved with a national or international environmental organization and work to influence environmental policy in the United States.”

Katie Loebner

Hometown:

Los Altos, California

Major:

Communication

Award:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Indonesia, where she will teach at the high school level

Previous experiences abroad:

Participated in the “North India: Arts and Culture” program with the School for International Training study abroad program, during fall of her junior year

Preparing for her Fulbright work:

“I have worked in ESL classrooms, art programs, outdoor education camps, and after-school women’s empowerment groups through Girls Inc., and while my new position is sure to have unique challenges, I hope that my youth work experiences have provided me with a tool belt of skills to draw upon. Working with immigrant communities during past jobs, as well as being immersed in a different culture while studying abroad, had me confronting cultural differences daily. Those cross-cultural interactions are inherent when taking part in international education, and I am eager to approach them with sensitivity and curiosity.”

Plans for the future:

“I feel honored to have this opportunity to continue my youth work, have my first formal classroom teaching experience, and take part in a reciprocal cultural exchange with the students and community I will be working and living with.”

Matthew Nelson

Hometown:

Norman, Oklahoma

Major:

Foreign Languages and Literature, with a concentration in Russian

Award:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Novosibirsk, Russia, where he’ll work at the Academy for Government Affairs, teaching English language classes, designing curriculum, and undertaking independent research on the role of public education in promoting and preserving minority languages in Russia

Previous experience abroad:

Studied in St. Petersburg, Russia during fall of his junior year

Preparing for his Fulbright work:

“I think that, more than anything, my foreign languages major at Lewis & Clark has prepared me for this work by familiarizing me with the language acquisition process and giving me many good examples of successful approaches to teaching a foreign language.”

Plans for the future:

“I would like to eventually go to graduate school, although it’s impossible to say for sure what I would like to study. Recently, my intellectual interests have been leading me toward the study of linguistics, especially the intersection of language and culture, society, and politics.

“I would also like to spend some time teaching in the public school system in order to use the tools and knowledge I have received through my education to benefit people outside of the college community.”

Brandon Nichter

Hometown:

Tucson, Arizona

Major:

Psychology, with an emphasis in developmental psychopathology

Award:

Fulbright Research Grant, which will take him to Santiago, Chile to study adolescent smoking and get involved in community- and school-based projects to curb smoking among Chilean youth

Previous experiences abroad:

Studied in Mérida, Venezuela the summer before junior year and in Granada, Spain fall of his junior year

Preparing for his Fulbright work:

“As a psychology major, I have taken courses involving aspects of child development, substance abuse, and risk factors that lead to addiction. My hope is that I will be able to apply concepts I have learned at Lewis & Clark about social cognition formation, individual differences, and psychological risk factors to contribute insights on why teens begin to smoke so early in Chile, and why the majority continue to smoke the entirety of their lives.”

Plans for the future:

“This research opportunity comes at an ideal time in my academic career. In the year following my project in Chile, I will be applying to graduate school for a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Because youth decisions to start smoking are highly related to psychosocial factors, conducting this research will have a profound impact on my ability to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms that affect the human decision making process, therefore enabling me to be a better researcher and clinical psychologist.”

Kate Phillips

Hometown:

Seattle, Washington

Major:

Sociology/Anthropology

Award:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in an area outside of Bangkok, Thailand, teaching conversational English to middle school and high school students

Previous experience abroad:

Studied in Australia in the spring of her junior year

Preparing for her Fulbright work:

“I think that my Sociology/Anthropology major has strengthened and developed my abilities to work with people and issues all over the world. Also, participating in community service at Lewis & Clark, and in the greater Portland area, has given me the opportunity to put my social awareness and drive into action. This will be a great and valuable tool in my future work with students and communities in Thailand.”

Plans for the future:

“I am very excited to challenge myself and my teaching abilities through the Fulbright experience. One of the underlying goals of the Fulbright program is to create and maintain bridges and connections between cultures. When I return, I plan to continue these connections and experiences by teaching elementary or middle school.”

Katherine Spingarn

Hometown:

Alamo, California

Majors:

History and German Studies

Award:

Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Saxony, Germany, where she will teach English language and American culture classes for students aged 12-18

Previous experience abroad:

Studied abroad junior year, in Munich, Germany

Preparing for her Fulbright work:

“I think that all classes at Lewis & Clark encourage students to examine and broaden their understanding of the world. My experiences in Munich, and in classes such as gender studies, history, and German, have taught me the importance of discussion in this process. I will be going to Germany to help facilitate a dialogue about the United States with teenagers studying the English language and American culture.

“My own experiences learning about Germany at Lewis & Clark and in Munich will be an important asset when explaining, in a relevant way, what life can be like in the United States. Professor Dodds and Professor Altpeter-Jones, as well as my friends in Munich, made clear the importance of highlighting different experiences and backgrounds when I began learning about Germany; a thirty year-old from East Berlin and a Turkish teenager living in Munich provide vastly different examples but equally important perspectives on life in Germany. I will do my best to provide my students with diverse examples of American experiences.”

Plans for the future:

“I plan to attend graduate school and pursue a career in public history. I hope to eventually work with German-language historical materials in archives, museums, or libraries. Institutions such as museums and archives often offer curriculum and programs aimed at educators that utilize the documents and artifacts found in their collections. My Fulbright experience will improve my language skills, but will also give me experience working with teachers and the development of curriculum.”

For more information about the Fulbright Program at Lewis & Clark, contact Associate Professor of Anthropology and Fulbright Program Adviser Deborah Heath: heath@lclark.edu.

Listen to a conversation with Perez and learn about how he is already making a difference in Portland’s Latino community.

The program, which places eight students in Congressional internships, was created to provide an opportunity for students with disabilities to work on Capitol Hill and enrich their academic studies and professional experience. For Shectman, who is dyslexic, the highly competitive internship is just one more achievement in a series of academic and extra-curricular successes that include being named a Mary Stewart Rogers Scholar, making the Dean’s List, and volunteering in Portland public schools to help students with learning and behavioral difficulties.

Read about his internship and how he hopes to integrate the experience with his Lewis & Clark education to pursue policy changes in the future in the interview below:

Can you describe the internship program you were selected for and explain the type of work you’ll be doing?

I was selected to do a summer congressional internship as part of a program sponsored by the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation and the American Association of People with Disabilities. I’ll be working in Washington DC, in the office of Congressman Steny Hoyer, the Democratic Majority Leader in the House of Representatives.

My responsibilities will most likely include legislative research, constituent services, and giving tours of the Capitol to visitors.

What do you hope to take away from the program at the end of the summer?

I hope that by the end of the summer I’ll have a better sense of how legislation moves through Congress and what goes on in a congressman’s office. I’m thrilled to be doing this internship during an election year. I’ve been volunteering for Barack Obama’s campaign, and it will be fascinating to watch the way the campaign develops from inside Congressman Hoyer’s office.

How do you think the internship will fit in with your academic work at Lewis & Clark?

I’ve been majoring in international affairs, with a minor in communication. I’m hoping the internship will help me understand better how our government works. I know a fair amount about international affairs, but I am really hoping to gain an understanding of how domestic legislation works and about Congress’s role in making foreign policy decisions. I hope the internship will help me integrate theoretical issues with how things actually happen in practice. One of the great things about going to a liberal arts college is being exposed to different disciplines and being able to make connections between those and the outside world.

What college-sponsored trips have you participated in, and how have those experiences affected you—either in your major or, more generally, in your outlook or perspective?

I traveled to Kenya for fall semester and participated in a spring break service trip to New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina.

I grew up in a safe and comfortable home. I never had any worries about food or healthcare. But I also learned from my parents that many people weren’t so fortunate. It’s one thing to hear this and another thing to observe it first hand. My experiences in New Orleans and in Kenya, taught me about the real hardships that many people face. When I was in Africa, I was moved by how much the students I met appreciated being able to go to school to get an education.

What projects or programs are you involved in outside of the classroom?

The most important volunteer work I’ve done at Lewis & Clark has been with Dale Holloway, the coordinator of Student Support Services. I’m part of a group of Lewis & Clark students that meets with students in the Portland public schools who have learning or behavioral issues. We try to be role models for them and let them know that it is possible to succeed in college.

Also, I’m a very outdoorsy person. Two summers ago, I passed an extensive series of exams to become an assistant scuba diving instructor. Next summer, I hope to become certified with the Handicapped Scuba Association, so that I can bring my love of scuba diving to people with physical disabilities.

What are you hoping to do after graduation?

I plan to spend some time traveling, possibly back to Kenya and Tanzania, and I’m thinking about doing some volunteer work there. Afterwards, I plan to go to graduate school to study International Affairs.

After that, I could see myself doing a number of things. A position of some kind on Capitol Hill is certainly a possibility, as is working for an NGO. My time in Africa was really a life-changing experience for me, and I could see myself working on issues related to Africa.

“I really want to make a difference, and I feel that the political arena is the most effective place to do that,” Brysacz said.

Listen to a conversation with Brysacz and learn about how he hopes to impact the country’s political dialogue in the future.

“We’re thrilled to receive this honor once again,” said Robert Klonoff, dean of the law school. “Our faculty and students offer the very best to the public and private sectors, as well as the judiciary, in the way of innovative environmental policies and programs to address one of the most critical and pressing issues of our time.”

Lewis & Clark Law School has served as a leader in the field of environmental law since it founded the program in 1970, the first of its kind in the country. In addition to its environmental law curriculum, the law school offers students hands-on opportunities to put their coursework into practice through one of its three clinical programs: the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center (PEAC), International Environmental Law Project, and Animal Law Clinic.

Beyond the educational value to students, the clinics develop persuasive legal strategies to affect environmental policies and how federal, state and local agencies carry them out. PEAC, named the “winningest” clinic in the country in 2007 by National Jurist, provides law students the opportunity to work on important environmental cases.

“Before coming to Lewis & Clark, I hardly knew anyone outside my local environmental community,” said Katie Strong, a law student who, through PEAC legal action, helped successfully argue for the reinstatement of Endangered Species Act protections for the Sonoran eagle population. “Now, I have connections with attorneys and environmental advocates across the country.”

The highly competitive environmental and animal law moot court programs offer students the opportunity to practice legal research skills, write briefs, and deliver oral arguments. Lewis & Clark moot court teams have won the National Center for Animal Law Moot Court Championship two years in a row and the Pace National Environmental Moot Court Championship five times in the past 15 years.

The law school also boasts seven environmental organizations or student-driven projects, such the Public Interest Law Project and the Northwest Environmental Defense Center, which are designed to enrich students’ educational experience and serve the greater community.

“The opportunities we offer outside the classroom are incredibly valuable,” said Janice Weis, associate dean and director of the environmental and natural resources law program. “Students are learning from each other, working closely with faculty on real cases, and engaging Portland organizations on projects that make this city a better place. Collectively, these experiences make for an outstanding educational program and a tight-knit community.”

In addition to the first place finish in the environmental law field, the legal writing program ranked 18, the intellectual property program ranked 22, and the law school jumped from 82 to 73 out of 195 American Bar Association-approved law schools in the country.

Coached by Professor of Communication Steve Hunt, Atcheson and his Lewis & Clark teammate, junior Scott Cheesewright, are ranked 10th nationally.

Listen to a conversation with Atcheson, in the final days before his debate, below.

Beck’s approach to music education earned her the distinction of Master Teacher by the American Musicological Society (AMS) at its annual conference in November. Beck is only the third teacher to earn such an honor from AMS, which recognizes excellent teachers among its 5,000 members.

“I’ve given my heart to music education,” Beck said. “I believe teaching is a trade—a trade you must learn well—and I feel incredibly honored to have been selected.”

Students of Beck’s courses in music history and appreciation are not at all surprised by her award. Junior music major Ariana Lenarsky, a transfer student, said her experiences with music history at a previous institution had been either frenzied or dry.

“Coming here, no class was more strongly recommended to me by students and faculty alike than Nora’s ‘Topics in the History of Western Music’ class,” Lenarsky said.

Beck engages her students in class discussions and activities, sharing freely her deep knowledge of the field and making history palpable in her classroom.

“She teaches gracefully,” Lenarsky said. “At the end of my first semester at Lewis & Clark, I’m confident discussing the ideals of Romanticism, the politics of late-18th century Vienna, and the lovesick mishaps of every composer from Beethoven to Verdi, yet I don’t feel as though I’ve swallowed a textbook.”

Beck’s infectious enthusiasm for her subject matter makes her courses popular for both majors and non-majors in music.

“The success of liberal arts education hinges on the ability of great educators, like Nora, to make subjects real for their students,” said Julio de Paula, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her passion and expertise bring art to life in ways that her students may never have experienced art before. That shared exploration is at the heart of a Lewis & Clark education.”