Williams reflects on Sonneborn award

Susan Williams, Walter W. Foskett Professor of Law at IU’s Maurer School of Law, will receive the 2014 Tracy M. Sonneborn Award.

The Sonneborn Award honors the exceptional research and teaching of an IU faculty member. The award was named for the late Tracy Sonneborn, a genetics professor at IU and successful biologist.

The Sonneborn Award winner receives a $3,500 award and a grant of $1,000 to support research, or any other creative project, according to a press release. In the fall 2014 semester, the Sonneborn Award winner will also give the annual Sonneborn Lecture.

“Susan Williams is truly deserving of the Sonneborn Award,” Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel said in the release. “She is an inspiring teacher who brings out the best in her students.”

Williams said she originally focused on constitutional law, specifically the American constitution’s First Amendment and the implication of feminist theory for the right of free speech.

 But about 10 to 15 years ago, she said she got involved in advising constitutional reformers in other countries, which required her to think more about how to build more democratic and egalitarian societies in countries needing constitutional reform.

“We don’t just write articles, we draft constitutional proposals,” Williams said. “This is not just theoretical work.”

When Williams met with Burmese people, she said they raised legal issues with no parallels in the American constitutions and no scholarship available on these topics.

She has also traveled to Liberia, South Sudan and many other countries to aid in the construction of a new constitution, and she has worked with women’s organizations in Libya and the Democratic Party in Vietnam.

“Most people learn constitutional law by studying their own constitution, but no one was taught from the perspective of people who were trying to write a constitution,” Williams said.

The Center for Constitutional Democracy’s Ph.D. program, “Law and Democracy,” began six years ago, and its first two students are graduating this year.

Williams said the Center on Constitutional Democracy has allowed her to take students and faculty alike to experience constitutional crises around the world.

“Through the CCD, Professor Williams provides a large number of students and faculty, myself included, with a rich and incredibly valuable learning community,” Professor Christina Ochoa, a colleague of Williams, said.

Williams said this Ph.D. program is an interdisciplinary degree with focuses in area study, political science and anthropology, as well as an internship component in constitutional advising, giving students practical and theoretical applications in the real world.

To the best of her knowledge, she said, no other law school offers a program like this.

“Most law schools do not have Ph.D. students, so with our programs, it is possible to
develop true relationships with future colleagues,” Williams said.

Professor Christina Ochoa, a colleague of Professor Williams, said Williams always received strong and glowing reviews for her teaching, and that she never heard criticism of her teaching from any first year student.

“To all those present at Professor Williams’ Distinguished Faculty Lecture last spring, it was plain why Professor Williams should also be recognized for her rare ability to combine her scholarly insights with the clarity, warmth and passion that teach and inspire her colleagues, her students and every audience I’ve known her to address,” Ochoa said.

Williams said being awarded the Sonneborn Award was a wonderful way of feeling like people noticed and appreciated the work she did.

“Winning the award makes you feel like you’re part of a conversation with other scholars across disciplinary lines,” Williams said.