Professor Sanford Levinson receives Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association

Sanford Levinson, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law and the University of Texas at Austin, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association on September 3, 2010, during its annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

In Levinson’s honor, a panel of distinguished law and political science experts from across the country convened to discuss Levinson’s work at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel. The participants included Levinson; Kim Lane Scheppele of Princeton University; Gary J. Jacobsohn of the University of Texas at Austin; Stephen M. Griffin of Tulane University; and Jack M. Balkin of Yale University. Following the panel discussion, Levinson accepted his award during a business meeting at the hotel.

Levinson is a constitutional law expert who teaches at the Law School and in the University of Texas’s Government Department. The Lifetime Achievement Award honors a distinguished career of scholarly achievement and service to the Law and Courts field. Nominees must be political scientists who are at least 65 years old or who have been active in the field for at least 25 years.

“Sandy is as well regarded in political science as he is in law. It is rare, however, for political science to bestow such awards to scholars whose primary appointment is not in a department of political science,” said Larry Sager, dean of the Law School. “All of his colleagues congratulate Sandy on this signal honor.”

Sager emphasized that Levinson’s efforts have enhanced the intellectual life at the Law School and the university. “Sandy has served on many dissertations, taught courses populated by many graduate students, graded prelims, served on search committees, and—with his inimitable conferences—has brought in some of the nation’s most eminent political scientists. Most notably, he has enhanced the visibility and the quality of public law effort at Texas,” Sager said.

“I am utterly delighted,” Levinson said. “This means a great deal to me, not least because I have tried to wear my ‘two hats’ as a lawyer and political scientist for the past four decades. I am also immensely grateful to the University of Texas School of Law for the repeated opportunities it has given me to flourish. It ‘takes a village’ to create a lifetime’s work, and the UT Law School certainly deserves part of the award.”

The American Political Science Association’s 106th annual meeting and exhibition, “ The Politics of Hard Times: Citizens, Nations, and the International System under Economic Stress,” is being held in Washington, D.C., on September 2–5, 2010.

About Sanford Levinson:

Sanford Levinson, who holds the W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, joined the University of Texas School of Law in 1980. Previously a member of the Department of Politics at Princeton University, he is also a professor in the Department of Government at the University of Texas.

The author of over 250 articles and book reviews in professional and popular journals, Levinson is also the author of four books: Constitutional Faith (1988, winner of the Scribes Award); Written in Stone: Public Monuments in Changing Societies (1998); Wrestling With Diversity (2003); and, most recently, Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (and How We the People Can Correct It) (2006)

Related Links:
The American Political Science Association

Professor Sanford Levinson Featured on Bill Moyers Journal

Contact: Laura Castro, UT Law Communications Department, 512-232-1229, lcastro@law.utexas.edu.

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