Pepperdine Caruso Law 2019-20 Teaching and Scholarship Awards

Dean Paul L. Caron presented five Pepperdine Caruso Law faculty members with 2019-20 teaching and scholarship awards:

• Professor Greg Ogden: Skip McDermott Teaching Award
• Professor Stephanie Williams: 1L Professor of the Year
• Professor Steve Schultz: 2L/3L Professor of the Year
• Professor Victoria Schwartz: Dean's Excellence in Scholarship Award
• Professor Ahmed Taha: Dean's Excellence in Scholarship Award

The Skip McDermott Award is presented to the professor who teaches the most students in an academic year. The 2019-20 Skip McDermott Teaching Award recipient is Professor Greg Ogden, who taught 173 students in his Administrative Law, Civil Procedure, Ethical Lawyering and Remedies courses.

The 1L Professor of the Year and 2L/3L Professor of the year are selected in voting by students. Professor Stephanie Williams was voted 2019-20 1L Professor of the Year Award in her first year on our faculty with an outpouring of support from her Legal Research and Writing students. Below are some of the things her students had to say:

• "Professor Williams really cares about her students. She wants us to learn, but does not leave us in the dark. I feel like I can always go to her with questions, and she is always eager to help me get to the right place. She is challenging but so helpful."
• "She is, by an extremely wide margin, the best professor I had here in Pepperdine Law. She is always available for her students. She is an excellent explainer even with nebulous LRW concepts. She genuinely cares for our growth as students and legal professionals. Nobody here at Pepperdine even comes close to Professor Stephanie Williams. Her commitment to her students is beyond anything I have seen in my civilian life."
• "She is one of the best professors I have ever had. She was available at any time morning or night via phone, is funny, very respectful, fair, and truly wants us to do well."

Professor Steve Schultz was voted 2019-20 2L/3L Professor of the Year. He previously received the award in 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18. Below are some of the things his students had to say:

• "Professor Schultz's enthusiasm is unparalleled - he does his point best to make every subject interesting (even if the topic is objectively uninteresting, and even if he has to jump around to get our attention). He truly cares about each one of his students and want to see every one of us succeed."
• "His passion for teaching and his students is evident in everything he does. He never ceases to make an effort to have a conversation with me and other students outside of class and his boundless energy in class made Cal Civ Pro infinitely more enjoyable in the fall. I took that class because I wanted to take a class taught by Professor Schultz and I'm glad I did."
• "He makes every effort to communicate clearly and effectively and make sure we get the most from class, but also makes himself available outside of class and truly cares about us, our lives, and our careers."

The Excellence in Scholarship Award is chosen by the Dean after consultation with a faculty committee and is based on the originality of a faculty member's scholarly work and the importance of its contribution to the academic literature. There are two recipients of 2019-20 Dean's Excellence in Scholarship Awards:

• Professor Victoria Schwartz for her article, The Celebrity Stock Market, 52 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 2033 (2019)
• Professor Ahmed Taha for his article, Exploiting Pre-Existing Beliefs, 97 Wash. U. L. Rev. 607 (2019)

Congratulations on these well-deserved awards.