Penn State Dickinson Law enters reciprocal virtual faculty scholarship exchange

CARLISLE, Pa. — Penn State Dickinson Law has entered a reciprocal virtual faculty scholarship exchange with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) that will allow faculty from each institution to present their research and receive feedback from scholars on a different continent working in many of the same areas.

The initial exchange will feature a series of faculty presentations alternating between the Law School and UTS. Associate Dean for Antiracism and Critical Pedagogy and Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar Shaakirrah R. Sanders will present “What Is Critical Pedagogy? Integrating the Tribal Commerce Clause into Constitutional Law,” a topic that connects particularly well with UTS’s work on Indigenous legal education.

Additional Penn State Dickinson Law faculty have expressed interest in participating, with further topics and dates to be coordinated as the exchange develops.

UTS Associate Dean of Indigenous Leadership and Engagement Marcelle Burns will kick off the exchange with a talk on “Embedding an Indigenous Graduate Attribute in the Bachelor of Laws program at the University of Technology Sydney,” taking place on Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. via Zoom in Room 114 in both Carlisle and University Park. Inaugural Chair in Gender and the Law Ramona Vijeyarasa will deliver a future UTS talk, and additional presentations will be scheduled as the exchange develops.

The partnership grew out of conversations between Penn State Dickinson Law Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Partnerships Daryl Lim and UTS Interim Dean Isabella Alexander during Lim’s August visit to Sydney.

“Penn State Dickinson Law already has a strong range of international relationships, including student exchange agreements and broader academic partnerships, and we have also participated in reciprocal faculty scholarship exchanges with other U.S. law schools,” said Lim, who holds the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Chair in Law. “What is somewhat distinctive about the UTS initiative is its combination of an international focus, recurring virtual engagement, and an emphasis specifically on faculty scholarship and relationship-building.”

The goal is to use individual scholarship presentations as a foundation for broader faculty connections and potential research collaborations between Penn State Dickinson Law and UTS, rather than treating the presentations as a one-time event.

“Such partnerships create repeated opportunities for faculty to receive feedback on their work from scholars working in different legal systems and intellectual traditions," Lim said. "They also make it easier for faculty to identify potential collaborators, develop comparative research projects, invite one another into conferences and workshops, and ultimately create opportunities that can extend to students as well. ... The virtual format makes that kind of sustained engagement especially feasible. Instead of relying on a single conference or an occasional overseas visit, colleagues can remain in conversation over time. Ideally, an individual presentation becomes the beginning of a relationship rather than the end of an event.”

Raising international visibility of faculty scholarship

Lim noted international reputation is built most effectively through sustained substantive engagement. When scholars at institutions abroad regularly encounter the work of Penn State Dickinson Law faculty, exchange ideas with them and begin collaborating, he said, the relationship becomes institutional rather than depending on a single visit or individual connection.

“That matters particularly now because many of the most important legal questions are inherently transnational, whether they concern technology and artificial intelligence (AI), intellectual property, Indigenous rights, gender equality, climate change, migration or the regulation of global business,” Lim said. “Law schools benefit from having faculty who can engage those questions across jurisdictions and from giving their students access to those perspectives. ... For Penn State Dickinson Law, partnerships like this also allow us to combine the intimacy of our faculty community with the global reach of Penn State. They help make our scholarship more visible internationally, bring new perspectives into our intellectual community, and show that Penn State Dickinson Law is an active participant in conversations about legal education and legal change around the world.”

He said he hopes that the Law School pursues similar relationships with other institutions if there is an intellectual fit.

“The goal is to create sustained relationships that grow organically from shared scholarly interests rather than simply adding partnerships for their own sake,” he said.