Distinguished Teaching Award
Past Recipients
2008
2007
Donna Shestowsky
2005
Millard A. Murphy
2004
John W. Poulos
2003
James E. Hogan
2002
Debra Lyn Bassett
2001
James F. Smith
2000
Diane Marie Amann
1999
John D. Ayer
1998
Florian Bartosic
1997
Martha S. West
1996
Harrison C. Dunning
1995
Alan E. Brownstein
1994
Joel C. Dobris
1993
Kevin R. Johnson
1992
Rex R. Perschbacher
1991
Margaret Z. Johns
1990
Edward H. Rabin
1988
Robert W. Hillman
1987
Bruce A. Wolk
1986
Floyd F. Feeney
1985
Friedrich K. Juenger
1984
Jean C. Love
1983
Richard C. Wydick
1982
Daniel W. Fessler
1981
Daniel J. Dykstra
1980
James E. Hogan
2009 Recipient
Professor of Law Jennifer Chacón is the recipient of the 30th Annual William and Sally Rutter Distinguished Teaching Award.
Professor Jennifer Chacón, a graduate of Yale Law School, joined the King Hall faculty in 2004, and quickly earned a reputation as a dedicated, insightful educator. Teaching Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Immigration Law, Professor Chacón has displayed an ability to make her courses inspiring and enlightening experiences for students, asking them to consider not only the practical and procedural elements of each subject but also the moral and sociological implications of the law. In recognition of her outstanding work in the classroom, Professor Chacón has been named as the recipient of the 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award.
Having grown up in the border town of El Paso, Texas, Professor Chacón has always been interested in issues of immigration and international law. She attended Stanford University, earning a degree in International Relations, then attended Yale Law School from 1995-98. During that time, she traveled to Chile and Guatemala to work with grass-roots groups involved in criminal procedural reform in those countries. The experience helped to convince her of the intimate connection between criminal law, democracy, and human rights—a concept that has informed her scholarship and teaching ever since.
Following graduation from Yale, she served from 1998-1999 as a clerk to the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas, U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, then joined Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City from 1999-2003. After gaining invaluable litigation experience, including both pro bono work on a Georgia death-penalty case and litigation on behalf of major corporate clients, she decided the time was right to make the transition to academia. In 2003, she accepted a fellowship at Yale Law School and worked to publish “Misery and Myopia: Understanding the Failures of U.S. Efforts to Stop Human Trafficking” (Fordham Law Review, 2006), the first of what would be several influential articles touching on immigration, international law, and human rights.
Impressed by the Law School’s sense of community, its dedicated and supportive faculty, and passionately engaged students, Professor Chacón joined King Hall in 2004. She said she felt particularly honored to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award at King Hall, which is filled with outstanding educators. “It’s very special to get this award in a place where the faculty cares so much about teaching and where the students have come to expect so much from their professors,” she said.
Professor Chacón will receive the award at the 30th Annual Recognition Celebration for Scholarship Donors and Recipients and the William and Sally Rutter Distinguished Teaching Award on March 19, beginning at 6 pm in the UC Davis Activities and Recreation Center.
Event details and RSVP information avalable online.
Kindly RSVP either by downloading the attached form and returning by March 3, 2009, or by filling out the online form here.
