Chase College of Law will award 130 degrees to graduating students and an honorary degree during a commencement ceremony May 5 that marks the 80th anniversary of the renaming of the long-established college after Cincinnatian and Chief Justice of the United States Salmon P. Chase.
The college will confer 110 Juris Doctor degrees on potential lawyers, 20 Master of Legal Studies degrees in a program for non-lawyers, and award an honorary Doctor of Laws to Cincinnati mayor and commencement speaker Aftab Pureval.
“We celebrate the outstanding achievements of our graduates and look forward to following their career paths. As part of the Chase family, these newly minted legal professionals will uplift those who seek their expert service and advice,” Dean Judith Daar, the Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold Dean of Chase College of Law, said of the graduates.
The commencement ceremony, beginning at 6 p.m. May 5 in Truist Arena on the NKU campus, coincides with the 80th anniversary of the renaming of the college in spring 1943. Chase had been founded in 1893 in Cincinnati as the YMCA Night Law School. It became part of NKU in 1972 and in 1975 added full-time day classes to its part-time evening program. Salmon P. Chase practiced law in Cincinnati during the early mid-1800s and, most notably, served as United States Secretary of the Treasury in the Abraham Lincoln administration and as Chief Justice of the United States from December 1864 until his death, May 7, 1873, 150 years ago.
Chase College of Law will recognize the legal legacy of its namesake as an advocate for justice prior to the Civil War in the annual presentation during commencement of the Salmon P. Chase Award to a graduating student whose law-related volunteer work reflects his commitment to advocacy on behalf of others. The award this year will be conferred on Shelby Adams for her work with the nonprofit Children’s Law Center in Covington, the Hamilton County Public Defender and the Chase Constitutional Litigation Clinic.
The college will also recognize Professor John Bickers and Professor Kenneth Katkin as the Class of 2023 selections as Professor of the Year, an acknowledgment of their enthusiasm and engagement with students in classroom instruction.
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