Excellence in Scholarship, Service, Teaching: De Barbieri, Cords, Bloom Receive Faculty Awards
Albany Law School's faculty recognized three of its members for excellence in scholarship, service, and teaching this week.
Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Community Economic Development Clinic within the Justice Center Ted De Barbieri received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship.
De Barbieri authored a number of op-eds, published papers, and scholarly conference presentations throughout the year.
Professor of Law and Presenter Michael Hutter pointed out that, "[Ted] is one of the most prolific scholars on our faculty. His work is interesting and impactful. His work is well cited, and he is called upon by the press to comment on everything from housing discrimination to the effectiveness of tax-based incentives for businesses. He is, in sum, a terrific ambassador for the law school."
Professor of Law Danshera Cords received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Service.
According to her peers, Cords engaged—without fanfare—in extraordinary behind the scenes efforts on behalf of Albany Law School leading to inclusive faculty hiring search, co-organizing a federal bar diversity program, empowering students and vulnerable community members through the VITA program, and serving on a myriad of critical committees helping make the school run more efficiently, effectively, and inclusively.
Presenter and Professor Mary Lynch presented the award and noted that Cords did this with humor, grace, and diplomatically while translating the concerns of academics to technology experts and vice versa. This improved student learning in a quiet, but powerfully influential way.
Justice David Josiah Brewer Distinguished Professor of Law Ira Mark Bloom received the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
In presenting the award Professor Pat Reyhan said, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.’ As the students who nominated our awardee wrote: Prof. Bloom could transform the most complex codes, restatements, and cases into easily comprehendible concepts. Beyond making the material understandable, he made the learning process fun, which is no easy task given the nature of his subject. But [his] passion for what he did, the material he taught, and (perhaps most of all) his students’ learning shone through, making his classes that much more enjoyable."
Bloom's commitment to teaching is reflected in his national course books: FUNDAMENTALS OF TRUSTS AND ESTATES and TAXATION OF ESTATES, TRUSTS, AND GIFTS. As his final writing project, Bloom prepared the 6th edition of the book. For almost 40 years he was the principal author of DRAFTING NEW YORK WILLS AND RELATED DOCUMENTS, a two-volume work designed for practitioners. Bloom also wrote numerous law review articles.
During his career, Bloom has been active at the state and national levels. He was a member of the Trusts and Estates Law Section of NYSBA for over 30 years, including as Chair of the Section and as Co-Reporter for the proposed New York Trust Code. He is a life member of the American Law Institute and was actively involved in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel for many years as an elected Academic Fellow.
Locally, Bloom has greatly enjoyed helping countless legal aid clients in need of wills and advance directives.
Bloom is retiring from Albany Law School this year. He began teaching at the law school in the Fall of 1978 and over the decades he became the go-to source for trusts and estate law and wisdom.
"We lament that future students will not have the opportunity to benefit from his teachings. But we are so appreciative that we had the privilege to learn from him,” Reyhan said.
Each received their award at the Commencement Ceremony for the Class of 2022 on Friday, May 20.
