Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University, is helping developing democracies thrive.
Recipient of a Senior Fulbright Specialist prize for a three-week visit to Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, Clayton delivered a series of lectures for undergraduate and graduate students focusing on contemporary American politics, constitutional law, and the politics and methodology of the social sciences. He also met individually with junior faculty to help advise them on their research and publication efforts.
“Whenever you teach students from other countries, you always bring a fresh perspective to familiar ideas and concepts,” he said. ClaytonClaudio and Maria Johnson Distinguished Professor in political science from WSU. “Working with academics and judges facing similar issues in this central European region will enrich my research and teaching about courts and justice.”
In a separate series of events funded by the U.S. State Department, Clayton and David Campbell, District Judge of Arizona and Chair of the Committee on International Judicial Relations of the Judicial Conference of the U.S., conducted workshops for Slovak judges and law professors.
The sessions were part of a conference on the rule of law and were designed to help promote a greater understanding of the role of judges in different types of democracies and how to improve legal education.
The two also presented the role of courts in protecting human rights at the 25th Human Rights Olympiad 2023 in Omsen, Slovakia.
In addition, Clayton met with the vice president of the Constitutional Court of SlovakiaĽuboš Szigeti, and with judicial advisers in Kosice, Slovakia, to discuss judicial administration and issues related to judicial ethics.
This was Clayton’s third Fulbright Award and a long-awaited opportunity since it was put on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. Originally scheduled for spring 2020, his journey concluded in early May.
The US Fulbright program operates in more than 140 countries, sending American teachers, scholars and professionals abroad to lecture and conduct research to increase mutual understanding around the world.
