Faculty Receive Awards at 2025 Commencement

Thomas R. Kline Excellence in Teaching Award- This honor is awarded to full-time faculty members who best demonstrate impactful and creative teaching methods that serve the pedagogical needs of Duquesne Kline School of Law students and advance legal pedagogy generally. The awards were given to Professor April Milburn-Knizer for her excellence in teaching bar studies, legal writing, and environmental law and to Professor David Jamison for excellence in teaching torts and sports & entertainment law.  

Thomas R. Kline Meritorious Service Award- This award is given to the full-time faculty member whose contributions to the law school and its mission exceeded expectations and had a significant positive impact on the university and our community partners. Professor Joseph Sabino Mistick received this award for his many years of working to promote election integrity and community service.

Murray Scholarship Faculty Award- In 2011, Chancellor John Murray honored the school’s 100th anniversary by making a substantial gift. The gift was to establish the Murray endowed fund for faculty scholarship. The fund has allowed us to invite nationally acclaimed legal scholars to the law school. The fund also enables us to recognize our own outstanding faculty scholars each year. The Murray Award for Faculty Scholarship was bestowed upon Professor Wesley Oliver for his cutting-edge scholarship in the areas of coding, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

Excellence in Teaching Award- This award, selected by graduating students, is given by the Student Bar Association (SBA). Professor Maryann Herman received the award for her outstanding contributions in teaching. She demonstrated the ability to engage students actively in the learning process through teaching that is intellectually rigorous and innovative.

Adjunct Faculty Awards- These awards, selected by graduating students, are given by the Student Bar Association (SBA). Matthew Debbis (fall semester) and The Honorable Thomas Hardiman (spring semester) were selected as this year’s award recipients based on enthusiasm for teaching and learning, interest in the students, sensitivity to the learning environment, and innovation of instruction.