Zicklin Law Professor Receives Award from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business
October 1, 2024Debbie Kaminer would like to thank the Academy. The Academy of Legal Studies in Business, that is.
Professor Debbie Kaminer (Department of Law) has received the 2024 Hoeber Memorial Award from The Academy of Legal Studies in Business for an article she published in the Journal of Legal Studies Education, the academy’s journal of business law pedagogy. The academy is the premier organization of business school law professors.
Prof. Kaminer’s article, “Vaccines in the Time of Covid-19: Using Vaccine Mandates to Teach About the Legal and Ethical Regulation of Business,” uses this timely topic to convey the complexities of legal regulation of business in the United States. “Can government and business mandate the Covid-19 vaccine?” Kaminer asks. The question becomes the catalyst for a classroom discussion about law and ethics, with a bit of behavioral economics woven in.
“The American legal system includes federal laws, state laws, statutes, regulations, Constitutional law, and so on, and business students need to understand how it all fits together,” Kaminer says. The topic also lends itself to ethical analysis, which enhances students’ ability to examine issues from competing ethical perspectives. Kaminer also introduces students to behavioral economics—ways businesses can, for example, encourage employees to get vaccinated simply by sending automated reminders.
Kaminer notes that she also won the Charles M. Hewitt Master Teacher Award from the same organization in 2021. “I’m very happy that my colleagues find my teaching methods to be useful in their classes,” she adds.