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Wayne State law professor Jocelyn Benson was named the Cohn Family Law Endowed Scholar in Legal History for the 2008-2009 school year. The award supports scholarly research, teaching and activities of the recipient.
As the Cohn family scholar, Benson will continue work on her upcoming book, which will analyze laws pertaining to elections in multilingual societies. She will also give the Cohn Family Scholar Lecture in 2009.
"Her work is about our civic responsibilities and civil rights, and she has been productive as a scholar and teacher from the moment she started two years ago," said Law School Dean Frank Wu.
The award is named for Judge Avern Cohn, who serves on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. Cohn is a Detroit native and a long-time supporter of the law school.
Benson is a graduate of Wellesley College and Oxford University, where she earned her Master's in sociology as a Marshall Scholar. She earned her law degree from Harvard University, where she was general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.
Her varied posts and positions throughout the nation include serving as the National Field Director for Election Protection for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 presidential election; the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Election Law; and the board of directors for Community Legal Resources and Transportation Riders United.
Benson joined the WSU law school faculty in 2005. She teaches election law, education law, race and the law, sports and the law, and civil procedure.
"She is exactly the type of professor we need here and we pride ourselves on," Wu said.
"Her scholarship is engaged with the issues of the real world."
