UToledo’s third annual Day of Giving will take place Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 15 and 16.

The 36-hour campaign, “Rocket Forward: You Launch Lives,” will begin at midnight Oct. 15 and end at noon Oct. 16.

Several events are planned Tuesday, Oct. 15:

Day of Giving Fall Festival — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Centennial Mall

• Student organizations will host booths with games.

• The Rocket Marching Band and UToledo cheerleaders will perform.

• President Sharon L. Gaber will greet students from noon to 12:30 p.m.

• The festival also will offer a dog-petting station, corn hole games, a basketball contest, pie in the face, pumpkin bowling and pumpkin golf.

College of Business and Innovation — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Savage & Associates Business Complex Second-Floor Atrium

• Giving station with ice cream.

Judith Herb College of Education — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Gillham Hall

• Giving station with popcorn.

College of Health and Human Services — 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 16, 8 to 10:30 a.m. in the Health and Human Services Building Atrium

• Giving station with popcorn, other snacks and prizes.

Jesup Scott Honors College — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside MacKinnon Hall

• Giving station with snacks.

College of Law — 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Law Center Patio

• Fall Fest hosted by the Student Bar Association: Donate to decorate mini-pumpkins; play corn hole, ring toss and horseshoes; and eat kettle corn, caramel apples and cider.

Student Recreation Center — 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

• Giving station; popcorn from 2 to 6 p.m.

University College — 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Wednesday, Oct. 16, 9 to 10:30 a.m. in Rocket Hall

• Giving station with popcorn, snacks, and a chance to spin the wheel to win prizes with a donation.

The University of Toledo Medical Center — starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 15 and 16, in the Four Seasons Bistro

• Giving station in the cafeteria.

Colleges of Nursing; Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences; and Medicine and Life Sciences — 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Collier Building Lobby

• College of Nursing will host a Day of Giving party with a giving station, snacks, a pumpkin decorating contest, music and entertainment. President Sharon L. Gaber and Health Science Campus deans will be on hand for Day of Giving selfie photos with students, faculty and staff.

Give online at rocketforward.utoledo.edu Oct. 15-16 and share your UToledo story on social media at #RocketForward.

“Fighting Back: A Legal Framework for Defeating the Opioid Crisis” is the title of The University of Toledo Law Review’s annual symposium, which will take place Friday, Oct. 11.

The free, public event will begin at 8 a.m. in the Law Center McQuade Auditorium.

Despite the decrease in opioid deaths in Ohio during the last year, experts predict death from opioids will continue to rise in the next decade.

The symposium will feature scholars and practitioners from across the region who will analyze the past efforts made toward defeating the opioid crisis. The event will foster discussions focused on these realizations and address the legal implications from a variety of perspectives: the criminal justice response, implications on public policy, regulating the medical field, and unintended consequences of the crisis.

This symposium will be of particular interest to attorneys in the practice of family law, criminal litigation and civil disputes; individuals employed with state and federal agencies; as well as those working to combat the crisis as healthcare providers and administrators. Individuals affected by this crisis also would benefit from attending.

Presenters’ scholarly contributions will appear in volume 51, issue 3, of The University of Toledo Law Review.

This symposium has been approved by the Supreme Court of Ohio Commission on Continuing Legal Education for 6.25 total Continuing Legal Education (CLE) hours, which includes 1.5 professional conduct hours.

If you do not need CLE credit and do not wish to have lunch, the event is free and registration is not required.

If you intend to seek CLE credit and/or would like a box lunch, registration is required by Tuesday, Oct. 8

For more information about the conference and to register for CLE and/or lunch, visit the College of Law website.

Kimberly Norwood, Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, will present the annual Cannon Lecture titled “Ferguson Five Years Later: A Look at the Legal and Social Reverberations in Ferguson and Around the Nation.”

She will speak at The University of Toledo College of Law Thursday, Sept. 26, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Auditorium.

In August 2014, events in small-town Ferguson, Mo., sparked international debate on the struggle for equal justice and equal treatment.

In 2016, Norwood published “Ferguson’s Fault Lines: The Race Quake That Rocked a Nation.” In the book, she used Ferguson as the foundation for a study on how various laws, social conditions, and economic and political policies may negatively impact the lives of black and brown people in America — contributing to racial and socioeconomic conflict.

Now five years later, Norwood will examine the institutional, systemic and cultural structures that resulted in racially disparate treatment in Ferguson.

Norwood’s research focuses on colorism, implicit bias, and the intersection of race, class and public education in America. She is a commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, a commissioner on the Missouri Supreme Court Commission on Racial and Ethnic Fairness, and a member of the Monitoring Team for the U.S. v. Ferguson Consent Decree.

She is the first black woman in Washington University’s history to receive tenure. She recently was named the 2019 Woman of the Year by the Missouri Lawyers Media. Norwood is a graduate of Fordham University and received her law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“We are honored to host a scholar and advocate of Professor Norwood’s stature,” said Geoffrey Rapp, associate dean for academic affairs and Harold A. Anderson Professor of Law and Values at the UToledo College of Law. “Her insights into the limitations of the legal system for addressing persistent racial discrimination have had a profound impact on how we think about lasting and difficult questions.”

This free, public event is part of the Cannon Lecture Series that was established in 1980 to honor former Toledo attorney Joseph A. Cannon. The series hosts nationally known individuals who explore both the humanistic dimensions and limitations of the legal system.

Food and beverages will be provided. Livestream will be available through the UToledo Alumni Association.

For more information, visit the UToledo College of Law website.

A local attorney and dentist have been appointed to The University of Toledo Board of Trustees.

Richard S. Walinski, a lawyer who practices in the areas of contract, corporate and commercial litigation, was named by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to a full nine-year term ending July 1, 2028. He replaces Sharon Speyer, who concluded her term in June.

Dr. Eleanore Awadalla, who leads Awadalla Dental, has been appointed to a term ending July 1, 2022. She will complete the remaining years of the term of Steve Cavanaugh, who resigned in June upon beginning his new role as ProMedica’s chief financial officer.

“We look forward to welcoming Mr. Walinski and Dr. Awadalla to the Board of Trustees,” UToledo President Sharon L. Gaber said. “As well-respected professionals in our community, they know firsthand the value The University of Toledo brings to our city and our region. We look forward to working with them as we continue our positive momentum.”

Walinski’s family has practiced continuously in the Toledo area for more than a century. He served as chief counsel to two of Ohio’s attorneys general, as chairman of the Ohio Supreme Court’s Rules Advisory Committee, and as a member of the Ohio Constitution Modernization Commission.

Walinski received a law degree from UToledo, and he was the founding editor-in-chief of The University of Toledo Law Review. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from UToledo.

Awadalla has 40 years of experience providing general, restorative and cosmetic dental services.

A graduate of Ohio State University’s College of Dentistry, Awadalla is a member of the American Dental Association, the Ohio Dental Association, the Toledo Dental Society, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the American Association of Dental Examiners.

Ilya Somin, professor of law at George Mason University, will discuss the importance of free movement within and beyond the United States as part of The University of Toledo College of Law’s Stranahan Lecture series.

His lecture, “Free to Move: Foot Voting and Political Freedom,” will be delivered Thursday, Sept. 12, at noon in the Law Center McQuade Auditorium.

Most Americans think of ballot box voting as the essence of political freedom. However, Somin will explain how we can best empower ordinary people by expanding opportunities for them to “vote with their feet,” whether it be in the private sector, between jurisdictions in a federal system, or even by moving to a new nation. He believes liberty and happiness can be enhanced by limiting and decentralizing political power, and by reducing barriers to both domestic and international migration.

“This is a timely lecture on immigration, federalism and other related topics like sanctuary cities,” said Lee J. Strang, John W. Stoepler Professor of Law and Values at the College of Law. “Professor Somin will argue that ‘foot voting’ is an underappreciated yet crucially important mechanism to preserve and promote individual liberty.”

A prolific scholar, Somin is the author of a number of books, including “Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government Is Smarter” (Stanford University Press, revised edition, 2016), as well as dozens of scholarly articles and essays in a variety of popular press outlets, including The Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He has been quoted or interviewed in Time, CBS, MSNBC and NPR, among other media.

Somin is a graduate of Amherst College, Harvard University and Yale Law School.

This free, public lecture is a part of the Stranahan National Issues Forum and is sponsored by the College of Law and its chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Book sales and signing will take place before and after the lecture. Food and drink will be provided.

For more information, visit the College of Law Stranahan Lecture Series website.

Sierra Leone, president and artistic director of Oral Funk Poetry Productions, will visit The University of Toledo to kick off 1619-2019: The Legacy of Black People in America Series.

“Voices of the People” is the title of the first program in the series.

Leone, a writer and leader of an urban poetry movement in Dayton, Ohio, will speak Thursday, Aug. 29, at the event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the Thompson Student Union Steps on Centennial Mall. If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the program will be moved inside the Thompson Student Union.

“This series of events over this next year is to commemorate the totality of the horrific and majestic experience of black people in America from 1619 to 2019,” Ben Davis, professor of law and co-chair of the 1619 Committee, said. “We are also planning other events — Health and the People, Art and the People, Slavery and the People, Faith and the People, Law and the People — and a writing contest are in the works to hopefully have a series of learning moments for our University community over the course of the school year.”

“The purpose of this first program is to have members of the community honor and commemorate the lives and experiences of African Americans — living, dead, famous, infamous, from any field of endeavor — through spoken word, quotes, sayings, poems and readings,” said Angela Siner, director of the Africana Studies Program and co-chair of the 1619 Committee.

“We want these programs to inspire and engage through the words and stories that spotlight African Americans’ contributions to U.S. culture during the past 400 years,” Davis said.

Both agree Leone is the perfect person to open the series.

Leone received the 2018 Ohio Governor’s Award in the community development and participation category. The honor was presented by the Ohio Arts Council and Ohio Citizens for the Arts Foundation and recognized the educator and entrepreneur for creating and strengthening interactive arts participation among diverse community members while increasing awareness about the arts.

More than a decade ago, Leone and her husband, Robert Owens Sr., founded Oral Funk Poetry Productions; the creative urban arts initiative has brought together communities across racial, cultural, ideological and economic divides.

She told the Dayton Daily News she was influenced by growing up in a large family with a grandmother who believed life is better when shared: “In community, we can be more creative, more impactful, reach more people in diverse audiences.”

Her project, The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show, presents a fusion of urban poetry, music, dance and visual arts from local, regional and international talent. The quarterly show expanded to include a competition, The Last Poet Standing.

Through Signature Educational Solutions in Dayton, Leone works with schools, youth art organizations and community groups. A big focus is on girls’ and women’s empowerment.

The wordsmith has written and performed commissioned works for many organizations, and she was the featured artist at the 2017 National Breaking Silences Conference, where she shared a poem about her journey with dyslexia.

Leone was known as Lucy Armstrong when she received a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice in 2000 from The University of Toledo. The native of the Glass City is working on a book of poems and short stories.

1619-2019: The Legacy of Black People in America Series is free and sponsored by the College of Law, the College of Arts and Letters, the Africana Studies Program, and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

The community is invited to attend the Craft Beer Lecture and Tasting Thursday, June 13, at 6 p.m. at The University of Toledo Center for Alumni and Donor Engagement, located at 4510 Dorr St.

Dr. Neil Reid, UToledo professor of geography and planning, affectionately known as the “Beer Professor,” will speak about the growth of the craft beer industry and the factors driving that growth. He teaches a class titled The Geography of Beer and Brewing.

Reid’s latest research about the impact of craft breweries on home values was featured in publications across the country, including Food & Wine magazine and Better Homes and Gardens.

“America is in the middle of a craft beer revolution,” Reid said. “Craft breweries often locate in neighborhoods that were once economically distressed. Thanks to the arrival of the craft brewery and other investments by both the public and private sector, many of these neighborhoods have become revitalized. In fact, our analysis shows living within a half mile of a craft brewery increased the average value of a single-family home by almost 10 percent, using Charlotte, N.C., as a case study.”

Representatives from two Toledo breweries and UToledo alumni also will discuss their journey from home brewers to brewery owners. Keefe Snyder, who graduated from the College of Engineering in 2006 and the College of Law in 2010, is a co-owner of Earnest Brew Works. Aaron Grizaniuk, who graduated from University College in 2005, co-owns Patron Saints Brewery.

The event costs $20 a person and includes eight 3-oz. beer samples and appetizers. The tasting is for people 21 and older.

To register, go to the Alumni Association website or call the Office of Alumni Engagement at 419.530.2586.

The event is hosted by the UToledo Arts and Letters and Engineering Alumni Affiliates.

Prince Senayah, a second-year law student at The University of Toledo College of Law, recently was awarded a 10-week public interest labor law fellowship by the Peggy Browning Fund.

Senayah will spend the summer working at United Auto Workers (UAW) International headquarters in Detroit to write briefs related to ongoing collective bargaining and grievance resolution proceedings, while witnessing and participating in union certification efforts.

The fund supports more than 80 public interest labor law fellowships nationwide, and the fellowship application process is highly competitive. Peggy Browning Fellows are distinguished students who have not only excelled in law school, but who also have demonstrated a commitment to workers’ rights through previous educational, work, volunteer and personal experiences.

Born and raised in Ghana, Senayah earned a bachelor of science degree in land economy from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. At the College of Law, he is pursuing a juris doctor with a certificate of concentration in labor and employment law to explore the correlation between employee rights and access to justice. He quickly developed a passion for worker rights advocacy after discovering the serious effects that workplace-related policies can have on the underprivileged.

Senayah was named a Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer Fellow in 2018 and also served as an instructor for the Law and Leadership Institute’s 2018 summer session, where he taught classes to prepare high school students from underserved communities for legal careers.

“I feel prepared to take on the responsibilities that will be assigned to me this summer not just because of the classes I have taken at the College of Law, but also because the attorneys I will be working with under the fellowship are committed to mentoring me,” Senayah said. “It is also reassuring to know professors at the college are so committed to seeing their students excel that I can reach out to them whenever necessary.”

“The Peggy Browning Fellowship is a prestigious award, with students from all over the country competing for jobs with major players in the labor and employment law world,” said Joseph Slater, Distinguished University Professor of Law. “Prince is an excellent student whose hard work, dedication and commitment is obvious in class. He will have the opportunity to work with the legal department of the UAW, one of the most important unions in the country, and I am sure he will do a fantastic job. He is very much deserving of this excellent opportunity.”

The Peggy Browning Fund is a not-for-profit organization established in memory of Margaret A. Browning, a prominent union-side attorney who was a member of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 until 1997. Peggy Browning Fellowships provide law students with unique, diverse and challenging work experiences fighting for social and economic justice.

Mark Fadel came to The University of Toledo well-informed about what lie ahead.

One of his brothers is a surgeon. Another, an attorney. Fadel had seen firsthand the rigors of completing just one of those degrees.

He was embarking on both simultaneously. Law and medicine combined.

“Watching them go through those programs individually, they sacrificed a lot,” he said. “To do it together was very difficult. It took a lot of perseverance.”

After six years of intense study, switching between medical textbooks and case law, clinical rotations and writing projects, Fadel will join Alexis Holman as the first graduates of UToledo’s J.D./M.D. program.

Holman also is set to receive the valedictorian award at the law commencement ceremony.

“There is a famous quote, ‘Faith is taking the first step when you do not see the top of the staircase.’ That is a great analogy for the program,” Holman said. “There were some challenging moments for us, but I am so happy we saw it through. Graduation will be a special moment.”

One of roughly two dozen such programs in the country, UToledo’s joint degree, established in 2013, is geared toward individuals who are driven to work at the intersection of medicine and law who seek opportunities to shape the future of health-care policy.

D. Benjamin Barros, dean of the College of Law, said it takes an amazing amount of talent, ambition and perseverance to complete two professional doctorates in such a short time frame.

“The combination of the two degrees can be very powerful. There are a wide range of intersections between law and medicine, and there are only a few people who are fully trained in both,” Barros said. “Recipients of this joint degree are well-poised to be leaders in a wide range of areas, including health-care policy, health-care system management and health-care regulation. We are incredibly proud of Alexis and Mark.”

After graduation, Fadel is going to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for a residency in otolaryngology, more commonly known as an ear, nose and throat specialist. He has already taken the bar exam and expects to learn his results within the month.

Holman will head to the University of Michigan for a residency in anesthesiology. She elected to take the bar exam after learning where she matched for residency.

Each said their respective residency programs were receptive to their dual degrees and the perspective that brings. They intend to continue researching and writing on medical law topics while in residency.

Looking further into the future, Holman and Fadel see a wide range of opportunities to put their unique training to use.

“With the changing face of health care — the shift to bigger medicine and increase in regulation — I was interested in trying to give physicians a seat at the table to help shape the future of care delivery in the United States,” Holman said.

Fadel and Holman already have had their work recognized at a national level, winning the Hirsch Award in the American College of Legal Medicine Student Writing Competition in back-to-back years. Fadel was recognized in 2018 for a piece arguing for stronger limitations on who can opt out of measles vaccinations read the UT News story. Holman won in 2019 for a paper questioning whether the FDA’s processes for determining equivalency between name brand and generic drugs were sufficient; read the UT News story.

“We are very proud of these two for their academic accomplishments and excellence,” said Dr. Christopher Cooper, dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, and executive vice president for clinical affairs. “They were the pioneers of this new program, and they have set an excellent example. They have a bright future ahead of them.”

Holman and Fadel credited faculty in the College of Law and College of Medicine and Life Sciences for being open to working with them as the first students in the program, and each other for their support during the difficult parts of their journey.

“Watching our friends match, graduate, sit for the bar, and participate in all the exciting things you do at the end of each of these programs was pretty hard to watch,” Fadel said. “We always wondered when it would be our moment and, finally, it came.”

The College of Law commencement is Sunday, May 5. The College of Medicine and Life Sciences commencement is Friday, May 10.

The commencement ceremony for The University of Toledo College of Law will be held Sunday, May 5, at 1 p.m. in the Thompson Student Union Auditorium.

Mary Ellen Pisanelli of The University of Toledo Board of Trustees will confer degrees to approximately 70 law graduates.

Angelita Cruz Bridges, a 2000 alumna of the College of Law, will deliver remarks to the graduating class.

Cruz Bridges serves as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. She litigates both affirmative and defensive civil cases on behalf of the United States, including those filed under the False Claims Act, the Federal Tort Claims Act and Title VII. She also represents U.S. interests in civil rights cases enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws in the areas of fair housing, disability rights and education.

She has received numerous commendations, including the 2015 Director’s Award from the Director of the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys for her superior performance investigating financial fraud.

Throughout her career, she has served in leadership roles with the Toledo Women’s Bar Association, Toledo Bar Association, and Thurgood Marshall Law Association. She is currently a member of the Zepf Center Board of Trustees and the Toledo Zoo Board of Trustees, and is president of the Toledo Chapter of Jack and Jill of America.

“I am delighted that Angelita Cruz Bridges will speak to our graduates at commencement,” said College of Law Dean D. Benjamin Barros. “She is a leading lawyer in Toledo, and does incredibly important work in her role as an assistant United States attorney. She also is a leader in our community, and devotes both her professional and personal time to public service. I look forward to hearing her advice and encouragement for our new graduates.”