Law School Hands Out Annual Mission Awards
Each year the University of St. Thomas School of Law awards faculty, staff, students and alumni for their contributions to the mission of the School of Law at an lunchtime ceremony. This year’s winners were announced on March 19. The award winners in each category along with some comments from their nomination form are below:
Excellence in Professional Preparation
Dave Bateson, Director Mentor Externship
Bateson plays a critical role in training students in practical law office skills and professionalism. While helping to manage roughly 500 mentor relationships, Bateson has become a real “go to” guy for students who have questions about job searches or career advice. Bateson uses his faith and concern for individuals while assisting students in maintaining their physical, spiritual and emotional health.
Nora Fitzpatrick, Assistant Dean for Administration
Fitzpatrick is the absolute definition of poise under pressure. She creatively seeks solutions to any problem that crops up and is always happy to provide a sympathetic ear. As the mother of two and the stepmother of five, she also models balance between work and family, while still managing to find time for various volunteer activities.
Sara Sommarstrom, Minnesota Justice Foundation Representative
Sommarstrom instills a commitment to pro bono and public service by facilitating a wide array of volunteer opportunities and encourages students to integrate volunteer activities into their law school routine. Her efforts have resulted in an increase in the percentage of student participation to nearly 80% of the graduating class. Sommarstrom also volunteers with the Youth Law Clinic, the Volunteer Lawyers Network and the Wilder Foundation.
Pete Surdo and Tayari Garrett, Alumni
Garrett and Surdo trained and supervised the trial advocacy teams, beginning in the middle of October when they launched the internal competition and continuing through the regional competition in Chicago in March. Garrett provided intense training so the students could develop excellent advocacy skills. Their work paid off – a UST team made it to the semi-final round of the regional competition.
Dean’s Awards for Teaching and Research.
Associate Professor Julie Oseid
Oseid consistently has great student evaluations for her Lawyering Skills classes. Students also raved about last spring’s Infamous Trials course. Oseid challenges her students to perform to their ability while engaging and inspiring them in a way that truly motivates them to do their best.
Dean’s Award for Teaching for Adjuncts
Adjunct Professor Ann Alton
Over the last four years, Alton has put together a team of a dozen attorneys and judges in a Trial Advocacy program modeled on those offered through the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Alton prepares students to become successful advocates in any court and effectively reach their audience. She and her team have developed a very successful model.
Dean’s Award for Scholarship
Associate Professor Rob Vischer
Vischer’s scholarship explores the intersection of law, religion and public policy, with a particular focus on the religious and moral dimensions of professional identity. This year, he finished writing a book titled Conscience and the Common Good: Reclaiming the Space Between Person and State. Steve Shiffrin, professor of law at Cornell and one of the leading scholars of First Amendment law, described the book as “an exceedingly significant contribution to the literature.”
Excellence in Scholarly Engagement and Societal Reform
Chris Clark, Student
Clark, a former union member, brought a unique perspective to his supervised research paper on unions by examining the constitutionality of union security agreements under the First and Fifth amendments. He challenged the constitutionality of these agreements and evaluated ways in which employees might be able to avoid union membership.
Nicole Concordia, Student
Concordia authored a paper that examined the two primary justifications for punishment in society – utilitarianism and retributivism – in the context of liberty. The paper focused on how restorative justice methodology, as a modern evolution of retributivism, and the concept of circle conferences, which have their roots in Native American traditions, can help end the cycle of pain resulting from the current penal system by facilitating community-building, reconciliation, healing and peacemaking.
Nate Dahl, Student
Dahl recruited speakers and organized three panel presentations focusing on the Congressional bailout package, the events that triggered the crisis and the spiritual component of the crisis. While he facilitated conversations about potentially divisive issues and helped to build bridges, Dahl exemplified what it means to search for the truth.
Service and Community
LuAnn Hudson, Administrative Assistant
Hudson is always ready to pitch in and looks for ways to make things better. She engages people with a spirit that makes them smile. Hudson is a founding member of the St. Thomas More Chapel Choir, the chief catalyst and organizer of the Christmas Adopt-a-Family program, provides administrative support to the Public Service Board and reviews all public service hours logged by students.
Ted Litzner, Custodian
Litzner is a radiant presence – no matter how busy he is, he takes time to get to know students, staff and faculty. He engages each person with dignity and respect. Litzner also prays for the students here at the law school, recognizing the challenges they face.
Kasii May, Student
May has a real commitment to community service. She co-founded Justice North to raise awareness about the human trafficking problem in Minnesota, has been active with World Service, Inc. and has trained volunteers for non-profits. May brings a servant’s heart to her interactions with her colleagues, classmates, faculty and staff. Her patience and positive support has helped many students through difficult problems and issues.
Laura Orr, Student
Orr has served as the President of the Public Service Board this year and has led the board as it refined the Public Service Policy to more clearly articulate goals, principles and processes. She has provided truly great leadership in keeping the board focused on its tasks. Orr also contributes her voice as a member of the St. Thomas More Chapel Choir.
Living the Mission Awards
Danny Lyskowski, 1L
Lyskowksi is intellectually curious and engaged in the classroom. He treats everyone with respect and dignity. He is actively engaged in the search for truth, expressing with confidence his own beliefs, but listening with humility to others. Lyskowski brings a positive attitude to everything he does. He served with Americorps and the Gateway Vincentian Volunteers prior to law school and now lends his talents to the Public Service Board.
Amber Barnett, 2L
Barnett has a contagious level of enthusiasm, optimism and faith. She serves on the Public Service Board, is an officer in the Delta Theta Phi law fraternity and is the membership chair of the Minnesota Justice Foundation chapter. Barnett reaches out to her classmates to invite them to events or show support. She openly shares her faith and spirituality with others while listening and learning to other’s perspectives.
Graciela Gonzalez, 3L
Gonzalez is determined, giving, dedicated, compassionate, positive and a testament to perseverance. After having her first attempt at law school sidetracked by illness and a family emergency, Gonzalez chose UST because of its emphasis on the ethical formation of professional identity. She has worked with the Latino/a Law Students Association and has logged nearly 500 hours of public service, serving as an interpreter at federal, state and immigration court hearings and trials, translating and editing consumer education brochures for the Volunteer Lawyers Network and providing legal services to the working poor at the Legal Rights Center.
Alumni Living the Mission Award
Loddy Tolzmann, Alumni
Tolzmann oversees, supervises and manages the US branch operations of a leading worldwide immigration consultancy company in London. While her immigration-focused practice clearly has a social justice and service component, Tolzmann and her husband Scott have committed to helping others in their personal lives as well. They opened Tolzmann’s Twin Cities Boxing to provide a place for north Minneapolis youths to compete in boxing and get away from the temptations of the street. Tolzmann also serves on the Alumni Board and as a mentor helping students interested in immigration.
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