Constitution Day: September 17, 2018

Constitution Day commemorates the formation and signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. All institutions of higher education that receive federal funding are required to host educational programs to inform students about the U.S. Constitution. UAlbany will commemorate the day with the following activities:

9:00 - 4:00 p.m., in front of the Center for Leadership and Service (Campus Center West B92)

• Free pocket Constitution giveaways
• TurboVote voter registration
• Enter Constitution Day Trivia
• Post on social media using #UAlbanyConstitutionDay and #UAlbanyLeads
• Ongoing videos will be shown to include:
  1. The Constitution Project Series (22 minutes)
     
  2. The Bill of Rights (22 minutes)
     
  3. Creating a Constitution (22 minutes)

U.S. CONSTITUTION: CHALLENGES CONFRONTING WE THE PEOPLE TODAY

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Campus Center West

Moderators:

Joel Pierre-Louis, J.D., Assistant Vice President for Integrated Learning

Joel Pierre-Louis graduated from UAlbany with a baccalaureate degree in political science and received his juris doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior to joining UAlbany in 2017, he served as Secretary of the State University of New York working with the SUNY Board of Trustees. He has also served as Senior Director of Operations at the Dormitory Authority of the State and as an Associate Counsel in SUNY Administration’s Counsel Office. Mr. Pierre-Louis has taught constitutional law at UAlbany and government ethics at Albany Law School.

Khadijah Boxill, Graduate Assistant in the Center for Leadership and Service

Khadijah Boxill is a graduate student, pursuing her masters’ degree in Africana studies in the hopes to become more involved in research and education. Khadijah is a graduate from Binghamton University with a bachelor of arts in Africana studies and psychology.

Expert Panelists to Present (followed by a Q&A session):

The Court and the Constitution: The Times They are A-Changing: Dr. James Acker, Distinguished Teaching Professor, School of Criminal Justice

Dr. Acker’s research and teaching focus on legal issues in criminal justice. His recent scholarship includes: Hans Toch, James Acker & Vincent Bonventre, eds., Living on Death Row: The Psychology of Waiting to Die (American Psychological Association 2018); Lawlemmas: Cases and Materials (Carolina Academic Press 2018); and he currently is working on a 2nd edition of James Acker & Allison Redlich, Wrongful Conviction: Law, Science, and Policy.

 

Understanding Supreme Court Nominations, Hearings and Process: Dr. Matthew Ingram, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science

Professor Ingram teaches and researches on comparative law and politics. His book, Crafting Courts in New Democracies: The Politics of Subnational Judicial Reform in Brazil and Mexico (Cambridge University Press, 2016), focuses on court reform in Brazil and Mexico, and other published work emphasizes justice reform, judicial behavior, and the relationship between legal institutions and violence. He is currently finishing a co-edited volume with Diana Kapiszewski, Beyond High Courts: The Justice Complex in Latin America (University of Notre Dame Press, 2019), and working on another co-edited volume with Diana Kapiszewski, Concepts, Data, and Methods in Comparative Law and Politics (Cambridge University Press, under contract).

 

The Historical Background of the 25th Amendment and Impeachment Processes: Dr. Julie Novkov, Professor/Director of Undergraduate Studies, Political Science

Professor Novkov teaches and researches on U.S. law and constitutionalism. Her writing focuses on struggles for equality and how they have contributed to the development of the United States. She is currently working on a co-edited book with Carol Nackenoff on families and political development, and a solo book on military service and sacrifice by people of color from the Civil War through World War I. She is past president of the Western Political Science Association and the current Chair of the Law and Courts section of the American Political Science Association.

 

Words and Actions Matter: Claims of Treason and Congressional Failure to Investigate Charges against the Executive Branch: Dr. Richard Hamm, Professor of History and Collins Fellow

Richard Hamm is a Professor of history. He studies the interaction of law and society in the American past. Currently he is writing on civil liberties in the period 1930 to 1960. He is currently looking for his MA thesis comparing impeachment and address of the legislature in early American constitutions.

 

Events are sponsored by Academic Affairs and the Center for Leadership and Service and are open to all, free of charge.