OU Law Professor Emeritus Drew Kershen Receives AALA Professional Scholarship Award

Media Contact: 
Mackenzie A. Dilbeck
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mdilbeck@ou.edu

NORMAN — Professor Emeritus of Law at The University of Oklahoma, Drew L. Kershen, received the American Agricultural Law Association’s (AALA) 2015 Professional Scholarship Award. The award recognizes Kershen’s work as co-author of “Agricultural Biotechnology: An Opportunity to Feed a World of Ten Billion.” The article is co-authored by Nina V. Fedoroff and is published in the fall 2014 issue of Penn State Law Review.

The prestigious award is one of only three honors given by the AALA each year. Award recipients are selected based upon excellence in quality of writing, relevance of topic to important legal issues in agriculture, clarity of analysis and potential impact. Kershen’s article was chosen from the entire pool of professional agricultural law scholarship published within the last year.

“We’re so pleased the AALA chose to recognize Professor Kershen’s scholarship,” said OU Law Dean Joseph Harroz Jr. “He is a truly special and treasured member of our emeritus faculty. Througout his years of service, his contributions in teaching and scholarship have done so much for so many. His expertise in agricultural biotechnology law is expansive and given the nature of his recent scholarship, it’s clear his research interests are advancing important conversations.” 

Together in their article, Kershen and Fedoroff respond to the latest United Nations projections that the human population will grow to 10.9 billion by mid-century. Their work argues for the immediate need to increase agricultural productivity through the use of modern science, while also moving beyond the cultural and political biases against molecular crop modification.

A copy of the article is available here (link, opens in new window).

Kershen joined the OU Law faculty in 1971 where he taught classes on agricultural law, legal history, professional responsibility and water rights. He has focused his research and writings on agricultural biotechnology law and policy since 1997. He is member of The Order of the Coif, a past president of the AALA, and a frequent speaker on agricultural law and water law topics.