Renowned legal scholar Tom Ginsburg has been named the speaker for the University of Chicago’s Convocation ceremony on June 3.
The Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law and Professor in the Department of Political Science, Ginsburg focuses his research on comparative and international law from an interdisciplinary perspective. He was recently announced as the faculty director of the University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, and he also serves as the faculty director of the Malyi Center on Institutional and Legal Integrity at the Law School.
“Convocation is a special moment in the life of the University,” said Ginsburg, a member of the UChicago faculty since 2008. “I’m very excited for the opportunity to address our students as they look back on all they have accomplished and look ahead to their next chapters.”
Ginsburg’s latest book is Democracies and International Law (2021), winner of the Best Book Prize from the American Branch of the International Law Association and the Robert Dalton Award from the American Society for International Law. He is also the author or co-author of How to Save a Constitutional Democracy (2018), Judicial Reputation: A Comparative Theory (2015), The Endurance of National Constitutions (2009) and Judicial Review in New Democracies (2003).
In addition to his work at the University, Ginsburg serves as co-director of the Comparative Constitutions Project, is a research professor at the American Bar Foundation. He is also co-host of the Entitled podcast on human rights.
Before joining UChicago, he served as a legal advisor at the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, and he has consulted with numerous international development agencies and governments on legal and constitutional reform.
Information about Convocation
Since 1893, the University has celebrated Convocation—the annual “calling together” of the University community and its graduating students. The three-day Convocation celebration will begin June 3 with the Class Day celebration on the Main Quadrangles. The event will honor graduating College students and feature an address from New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, AB’95. Diploma ceremonies for the College, as well as diploma and hooding ceremonies for the schools and divisions, will take place from June 2-4.
For those unable to attend, the Class Day and the University-wide Convocation ceremony will be webcast on the UChicago News website and its digital channels. For more information, visit the Convocation website.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
