Gustavus Adolphus College’s 2019 Ronald S. and Kathryn K. Christenson Lectureship in Politics and Law will be held from 7-8:30 p.m. on April 16 in Wallenberg Auditorium in the Nobel Hall of Science. This year’s lecture will feature Justice Barry Anderson, senior member of the Minnesota Supreme Court, giving a lecture titled Preserving the Rule of Law.
Anderson graduated from Gustavus in 1976 with majors in political science and history. After Gustavus, he went on to the University of Minnesota Law School and practiced in Fairmont and Hutchinson, serving as Hutchinson’s city attorney before being named to the Minnesota Court of Appeals in 1998. He was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2004, and has written over 800 opinions in over 20 years of in statewide office.
“The Gustavus Department of Political Science was founded in 1969 by Ronald Christenson. For the 2019 Christenson Lecture, which is also the 50th anniversary year of our department, it seemed only fitting that we invite one of the most distinguished alumni, who was also among the finest students of our founding member,” political science professor Richard Leitch said.
The lecture is funded through a gift by Kathryn Christenson in honor of her husband, Ronald, who was a longtime political science professor at Gustavus.
Justice Anderson’s lecture will touch on the importance of law in our society, a topic relevant to all citizens and an area current political science students frequently hear about in their classes. The lecture also helps further messages that political science teachers want to emphasize in their classes by providing real-world legal examples.
“All political science courses consider the rule of law in some way,” Leitch said, pointing out that Dr. Lori Carsen Kelly, a former student of Christenson’s, is teaching “Law and Society” in the department this semester.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
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