Susan Grover Honored by Class of 2011 with Walter Williams Teaching Award
At the Law School's May 15 graduation ceremony, Professor Susan Grover received the Walter L. Williams, Jr., Memorial Teaching Award, an award given by the graduating class to a member of the faculty in recognition of outstanding teaching. Grover was also recently named a University Professor for Teaching Excellence by the College of William & Mary.
The award was presented by Rica Hudson Calhoun ’11 on behalf of the graduating class. Calhoun spoke of Grover’s commitment to her students, and their sense that she cared about each of them inside and outside the classroom. “Through her selfless contributions to her area of law, the legal community, and the students of Marshall Wythe,” said Calhoun, “Professor Grover has made all our paths a little easier. Her passion and commitment to equality serve as an example we should all strive to emulate.”
Grover joined the law school faculty in 1988. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law School and an A.B. from Hollins College. She clerked for Chief Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Judge Oliver Gasch of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In the fall of 1999, Grover served as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Teaching Effectiveness at the Franklin Pierce Law Center. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Virginia Lawyers Helping Lawyers and a member of the American Bar Association’s Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs. She teaches Civil Procedure; Civil Rights Law; Employment Discrimination Law; Law and Society; and Women and the Law.
The award is named for Walter L. Williams, Jr., a member of the faculty from 1972 to 1991. Following his death after a long illness, a faculty resolution lauded his numerous contributions as a scholar of international law, professor and colleague. Williams taught with "enthusiasm, warmth and good humor," the resolution noted, and was loved and admired by students.