Indiana University Maurer School of Law welcomes inaugural Jerome Hall fellows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 21, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Two leading junior scholars conducting innovative research in the areas of law and society have been named the inaugural recipients of the Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
Megan Francis, an alumnus of Princeton University, will use the one-year fellowship to continue work on her manuscript, Crime and Citizenship: The NAACP's Campaign to End Racial Violence, 1900-1923. Alexei Trochev, who holds a degree in Russian law from Syktyvkar State University in Russia and graduate degrees from the Universities of Kansas and Toronto, will explore how political competition simultaneously helps and hurts judicial independence in post-communist countries.
Megan Francis and Alexei Trochev are the inaugural recipients of the Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowships.
The fellowships are sponsored by the Indiana University Center for Law, Society, and Culture, which is housed at the School of Law. The interdisciplinary research center fosters and promotes scholarship in the areas of law, the humanities, and social sciences and is directed by IU law professors Michael Grossberg and Ajay Mehrotra.
"Megan and Alexei are both advancing the boundaries of law and society scholarship in important and innovative ways," Grossberg said. "Their research will not only make significant contributions to socio-legal studies, but also enable Indiana University and its Maurer School of Law to extend its long and illustrious record as a major center for law and society research and teaching in new, exciting ways. The Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship program is one more example of our deep commitment to interdisciplinary legal scholarship."
Francis specializes in the study of American political and constitutional development, including racial and ethnic politics, civil rights, criminal justice, public policy, and American history.
"I look forward to continuing work on my current research project, which explores the role of the NAACP in the making of modern criminal procedure doctrine in America," Francis said. "I'm excited to be an inaugural Jerome Hall fellow, as I feel the best types of learning and scholarship occur when scholars engage across different disciplines and fields."
Trochev is the author of Judging Russia: Constitutional Court in Russian Politics, 1990-2006, which received an Outstanding Academic Title Award from Choice magazine in 2008. He will use his fellowship to examine how and why politicians and business people respond to judicial systems in the context of heightened political fragmentation.
"The IU Maurer School of Law and its Center for Law, Society, and Culture is the perfect place to continue my research," Trochev said. "I am particularly excited to draw on the university's wealth of skills and resources."
The Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellowship is named in honor of the late Jerome Hall, an internationally recognized faculty member at the IU Maurer School of Law from 1939 to 1970. He was renowned for his interdisciplinary analysis of legal issues. Fellows receive a $23,000 stipend plus a research allowance, health insurance, and office space at the Law School for the duration of their academic year spent at the center. Next year's fellows will be announced in spring 2010.
