Professor Robert Chesney Honored for Excellence in Teaching

February 7, 2008

Professor Robert Chesney, associate professor of law, was presented with the Joseph Branch Excellence in Teaching Award at the University Founders' Day Convocation Ceremony on Thursday February 7, 2008.

Chesney joined the law school faculty in the fall of 2002 after practicing in the litigation department of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. Prior to that, he clerked for the Honorable Robert D. Sack of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. He teaches National Security Law, Constitutional Law I (Individual Rights), Constitutional Law II (Structure of Government), Evidence, and Civil Procedure II.

It comes as no surprise to his former or current students that Professor Chesney is being honored for his teaching skills. In fact, students recognized Chesney's outstanding classroom abilities early in his teaching tenure when he was selected as Teacher of the Year by the 2004 graduating class. Students often describe his teaching style as energetic, engaging and innovative. Chesney seems to effortlessly weave his easy-going, but enthusiastic, personal demeanor and his gifted ability to clearly explain complex information with technology to support his classroom goals. His classes now incorporate a computerized "classroom performance system" which allows him to ask a few questions during class which students answer electronically. Within moments, Professor Chesney is able to gage his students' grasp of the day's lesson and can decide whether to move ahead or spend more time on a particular concept. Of course, no Chesney class is complete without a dynamic power point presentation to support each session.

Current students emphatically note that he "has a great ability to make complex topics understandable." They go on to state that he explains "legal doctrines and rules in a language that (students) understand. Whether through pop culture references, current events or stories of his own experiences, Professor Chesney makes the classroom not only fun, but also an engaging environment that helps to compel students to WANT to learn." One student added, "(His) methodical approach helped me learn a complex subject that I had dreaded at the start of the semester."

Professor Chesney's classroom lessons are often informed by his past practice experience as well as his outstanding scholarship in the area of national security law. His research in this area focuses on the difficulty of constructing a reasonable and effective legal response to the threat of terrorism. His work has appeared recently in the Michigan Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, and the Harvard Journal on Legislation. He has presented papers and lectures at a number of academic and military conferences and, in the fall of 2005, was invited by the Department of Defense to participate in a tour of the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

In short, Professor Chesney has distinguished himself as an exceptional teacher with a special talent for creating an exciting and stimulating atmosphere for learning within his classroom. The law school community congratulates Professor Chesney on these achievements and is pleased to honor him with the Branch Award for Teaching Excellence.