Post Date: June 8, 2004
On Wednesday, June 9, Professor Bill Stuntz will receive the 2004 Sacks-Freund Teaching Award. The presentation will occur at the Class Day ceremonies beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the steps of Langdell Hall. In addition, the staff appreciation award will be given to Alexa Shabecoff, assistant dean for public interest advising. The event will be webcast live for those unable to attend. (Requires the RealOne Player.)
“I don’t know what to say, save that I’m touched, and grateful beyond words,” said Stuntz. “There are many wonderful teachers at Harvard Law School, and I doubt that I deserve to be mentioned in the same breath with them. And for what it’s worth, I think the class of 2004 is wonderful: the best graduating class I’ve ever taught. Terrific minds, and terrific human beings.”
A criminal law expert, Stuntz has been on the faculty of the law school since 2000. Previous winners of the award, which was established in 1992 in honor of the late Harvard Law School Professors Albert Sacks and Paul Freund, include Professors Lani Guinier, Laurence Tribe and Elizabeth Warren. Last year’s winner was Assistant Professor Heather Gerken.
Shabecoff, who will receive the Dean Suzanne L. Richardson Staff Appreciation Award, has been with the Bernard Koteen Office of Public Interest Advising since 1994. Prior to joining OPIA, she worked for more than seven years as a legal services attorney in Boston and St. Louis. While in legal services, Shabecoff specialized in housing law and participated in litigation, policy advocacy and community education.
“I’m thrilled to receive this award for many reasons, but most of all because it is from the students at HLS. I also believe that this award is really for everyone at OPIA,” said Shabecoff. “I have adored working with the students, some of them since they were just admitted students trying to decide between law schools, and am delighted that they recognize the hard work and devotion of the entire staff at OPIA.”
The Harvard Law School Class Day is held annually on the day before the University’s commencement. This year’s Class Day speaker will be actor, lawyer and writer Ben Stein. Recent speakers have included former White House Council Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General Janet Reno, and NBC’s Tim Russert.