Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia • January 9, 2009
Jack Goldsmith, a 1984 graduate of Washington and Lee University and currently the Henry L. Shattuck Professor of Law in the Harvard Law School, will return to his alma mater to address the annual Founders’ Day/Omicron Delta Kappa Convocation on Monday, Jan. 19, at 11:45 a.m. in Lee Chapel.
The title of Goldsmith’s lecture is "The Presidency in the Age of Terrorism." The lecture is free and open to the public.
Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society founded at W&L in 1914, will hold its annual inductions as part of the convocation ceremony. ODK was the first college honor society of a national scope to give recognition and honor for meritorious leadership and service in extracurricular activities and to encourage development of general campus citizenship.
Twenty-seven students, both law and undergraduate, will be initiated into ODK as well as two local community members, Susan Dittman and Doug Harwood.
Dittman, W&L’s initial varsity volleyball coach from 1987-1993 and director for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Education from 2006-2007, has been active in the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization, serving on the Board of Directors, as secretary, vice-president and president. Dittman leads mission trips to the Caribbean as president of Caribbean Encounters and currently supervises Susan’s Tread Lightly Travel.
Harwood is a 1974 journalism graduate of W&L and founded the news department of WREL, the local FM radio station, in 1975. From 1980-1992 he was editor of the Buena Vista News and since 1992 he has been the editor and publisher of The Rockbridge Advocate. For the past 37 years, Harwood has produced The Anti-Headache Machine for four hours on W&L’s WLUR FM every Saturday night. An accomplished musician, he has been a journalism instructor at VMI and Summer Scholars. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Rockbridge Regional Fair.
Goldsmith is the author of the 2007 volume, “The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration.” The book recounts Goldsmith’s experience as assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush Administration. He held that position from October 2003 to August 2004.
Previously he was a special counsel to the general counsel to the Department of Defense. He has taught at both the University of Chicago and University of Virginia law schools and clerked for Supreme Court justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Court of Appeals judge J. Harvie Wilkinson and Judge George Aldrich on the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal.
A summa cum laude graduate in philosophy from W&L, Goldsmith earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at Oxford and a J.D. degree at the Yale Law School. He also holds a diploma in private international law from the Hague Academy of International Law.
The student initiates to ODK are:
Class of 2009
Aaron Paul Albert of Hebron, Ct.; Mackenzie Elise Brown of Kingwood, W.Va.; Kehvon Marie Clark of Boone, N.C.; Caitlin Jane Corr of West End, N.C.; Emily Kieffer Deddens of Maplewood, N.J.; Jacqueline Frost DiBiasie of Salvisa, Ky.; Yuji Eugina Huang of Lawrenceville, Ga.; Julie Anna Mancini of Glenshaw, Pa.; Christopher Lee Martin Jr. of Shreveport, La.; Julie Catherine Peterson of Fayetteville, W.Va.; Mallory Anne Ruymann of Sudbury, Mass.; Jennifer Nicole Sanow of Leesburg, Va.; John Brennan Stanton of New Orleans, La.; Rebecca Lynne Taylor of Burton, Wash.; and Anne Magee Van Devender of Jackson, Miss.
Class of 2010
James Christian Dick of Schenectady, N.Y.; Emily Shay Martin of Brookhaven, Pa.; Joseph Patrick McDonald of San Antonio, Texas; Elliot William O’Brien of Te Awamutu, New Zealand; and Cristin Elizabeth Quinn of Beaumont, Texas.
Law Class of 2009
Ryan Matthew Decker of Lexington, Va.; Kristen Ann Hutchens of Tampa, Fl.; Arif Shamsherali Noorani of Fayetteville, Ga.; Robert Carter Thomson Reed of Lexington, Va.; and Megan Leigh Williams of Redmond, Wash.
Law Class of 2010
Caitlin Roberts Cottingham of Washington, D.C.; Bryan John Hoynak of Doylestown, Pa.; and Charles Richardson Yates III of Atlanta, Ga.