The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss' Faculty Athletics Representative Appointed as Distinguished Professor
5/11/2020 | Athletics
Rychlak Honored for Teaching Excellence, Service
OXFORD, Miss. โ Ron Rychlak,ย Ole Miss'ย Facultyย Athleticsย Representative andย law professor, was recently appointed as one of the university's newest Distinguished Professors.
The Distinguished Professor appointment is an honorific title started by UM in 2018 that recognizes the best faculty with sustained excellence at the university. The award was created in response to the university's strategic initiative to develop a post-professorial recognition.
Rychlak,ย who has served as the university's faculty athletics representative since 2007, is a 1980 graduate of Wabash College with a bachelor's degree in economics. He then went on to earnย his Juris Doctor from the Vanderbilt Law School in 1983. Before joining theย UM School of Lawย in 1987, Rychlak served as a clerk to Judge Harry W. Wellford of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and later joined the law firm Jenner & Block in Chicago.
While an Ole Miss faculty member, Rychlak has taught several classes, covering topics from the First Amendment to evidence to international security. In 2017, he received the school's Ben Hardy Faculty Excellence Award.
He's the author, co-author or editor of 11 books and a nationally and internationally renowned scholar researching and writing across an array of disciplines, including criminal law, gambling law, environmental law, international law and the study ofย religionsย in times ofย war. He also has written more than 100 academic papers, covering topics from baseball and the law to crimes before the International Criminal Court, and given more than 90 presentations to U.S. and international audiences.
Rychlak's writings on the history of the Catholic Church in World War II have been labeled as definitive by Vatican scholars.
His academic writing has been published in prestigious law journals such as the UCLA Law Review, and in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other publications. He also has made numerous media appearances on TV networks such as ABC and CNN.
Last year,ย Rychlak received the Distinguished Research and Creative Achievement Award, the university's highest research award, which recognizes a faculty member who has shown outstanding accomplishment in research, scholarship and creative activity.
Beyond his classroom and research duties, Rychlak also has served as the president of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools and as a Vatican delegate to meetings of the United Nations' International Law Commission. He is secretary of the Southeastern Conference Executive Committee.
In her recommendation letter, law school Dean Susan Duncan wrote that Rychlak "is an outstanding professor who warrants this award."
"The quality and volume of Professor Rychlak's scholarship have helped the law school achieve and maintain a strong national and international reputation for academic excellence," she wrote.
No more than 5 percent of eligible faculty can be appointed as a Distinguished Professor.
Each school and college has its guidelines for nominations, but the university requires that nominated faculty have at least six years of service at the highest rank of professor, along with exemplary accomplishments in research and creative achievement, teaching and service. Also, it is expected that awardees will have achieved a significant degree of national or international recognition.
