Curriculum

Prof. Ralph Ruebner of The John Marshall Law School has been named associate dean for academic affairs, including curriculum, faculty development, student support and discipline.

A faculty member since 1981, Ruebner has chaired the Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee and directed the Criminal Justice Clinic and the Moot Court Program. He is a recipient of the ISBA Elmer Gertz Award.

John Marshall also has named Prof. Kathryn J. Kennedy to the position of associate dean for advanced studies. She will direct the substantive Centers for Excellence, the Global Legal Studies Program and the distance learning initiatives.

Previously director of the Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits, Kennedy is a past chair and current CLE coordinator of the ISBA Employee Benefits Section Council. She serves on the U.S. Department of Labor Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefits Plans.

In addition to its alumni reception scheduled from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, during the ISBA Midyear Meeting in Chicago, the Southern Illinois University School of Law also plans to welcome alums to a St. Louis reception on Dec. 5.

A commencement ceremony for graduating SIU law students is set for Dec. 15 in Carbondale. Call (618) 453-4811 for details.

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Retiring Dean LeRoy Pernell of the Northern Illinois University College of Law has been honored during a recent series of regional receptions. He will become dean of the Florida A&M University College of Law in January.

The final reception in Pernell's honor will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, during the ISBA Midyear Meeting in Chicago.

Prof. Malcolm L. Morris, associate dean of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, will become interim dean on Jan. 1 when Dean LeRoy Pernell leaves to head the Florida A&M law school.

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Prof. Karen Halvorsen Cross of The John Marshall Law School will take leave in late April for a three-month teaching stint at Catholic University of Portugal through the Fulbright Distinguished Chairs Program.

She will develop and teach curriculums on contracts and international business transactions in English for the school's LL.M. program in International Trade and Business Law.

The Loyola University School of Law will begin a partnership in May with the Concord Law School to offer an online master of jurisprudence degree in health law.

Loyola's Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy has offered the degree since 1986, and more than 300 on-site students have graduated. The new partnership will bring its health law curriculum to a much broader audience.

After her speech, “Some Leaders Are Born Women,” in the Francis X. Riley Courtroom, Weddington signed copies of her book, “A Question of Choice,” during a reception in the Thurgood Marshall Gallery.

The annual lecture is funded by the family of Marla Dickerson, an NIU law student who died in a 1994 plane crash.

Alabama attorney Morris Dees, a founder and chief trial counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, spoke Nov. 6 at the Southern Illinois University School of Law. He gave the Bill and Molly Norwood Fellowship Lecture for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

Dees, who has won several court battles against hate groups during the past 35 years, has been active in the civil rights movement since the 1960s. He has received 17 honorary degrees and several awards.

Ed Murillo, who will graduate from The John Marshall Law School in January, received an El Humanitario Award from the Cook County state's attorneys' office on Oct. 3 during a Hispanic Heritage Month ceremony.

A law clerk in the office for three years, Murillo has been with the Felony Division and the Traffic Division. He also attended Prosecutors Academy and volunteered at the Chicago Legal Clinic.

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Ruth Lopez, a student at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, has been appointed to a two-year term on the 20-member national advisory committee of Equal Justice Works, an initiative of the National Association of Public Interest Law.

Four attorneys will be honored during the 30th annual Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni luncheon on Wednesday, Dec. 5, at The Standard Club, Chicago.

The event also will feature a farewell to Lewis Collens, president emeritus of the Illinois Institute of Technology and dean of the law school from 1974 to 1990.

The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to John R. Schmidt of Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, chair of the Chicago-Kent Board of Overseers.

Maryann Jones, a 1982 graduate, will receive the Professional Achievement Award. She is dean and president of the Western State University College of Law.

D. Jean Ortega-Piron, who graduated in 1981, also will receive a Professional Achievement Award. She is guardianship administrator for the Office of Illinois Guardian and Department of Children and Family Services.

Jonathan Carson, class of 1997, will be honored with the Young Alumni Award. He is co-founder and president of Kurtzman Carson Consultants.

Chicago attorney John G. Locallo, a partner in Amari and Locallo, is president of the Chicago-Kent alumni board. He is ISBA treasurer and a member of the Board of Governors.