During his time at the University of Trento next spring, Professor Henry Gabriel will teach undergraduates and doctoral students in the university’s renowned program in comparative law.
The Distinguished Chair Awards are viewed as the most prestigious appointments in the Fulbright Scholar Program and comprise approximately 40 annual lecturing and research awards ranging from three to 12 months.
During his time at the University of Trento, Gabriel will teach undergraduates and doctoral students in the university’s renowned program in comparative law. He will also use time to further his research and writing on the effect of soft law on international legal norms.
Gabriel was awarded a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Law in 2007 to teach at the Catholic University of Portugal. Fulbright recipients are limited to two awards in a lifetime; both of Gabriel’s awards have been Distinguished Chairs, a rare occurrence within the program.
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Program was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by then-Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. It annually awards grants for U.S. students to study and research abroad, for foreign students to study in the United States, for U.S. scholars to teach and research abroad, and for visiting foreign scholars to teach and research in the United States.
Elon University has an extensive record of students receiving Fulbright awards, and for several years Elon has been recognized as a top producer of Fulbright Student Awards. The university is currently hosting two visiting British Fulbright Scholars as part of the United States-United Kingdom Fulbright Commission Exchange Program.
Gabriel's involvement in international law is prolific. He was reelected last year to a term on the Governing Council of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. Founded in 1926, UNIDROIT is an intergovernmental organization based in Rome with 63 member countries, including the United States, that studies needs and methods for modernizing, harmonizing and coordinating private and, in particular, commercial law as between states and groups of states, and to formulate uniform law instruments, principles and rules to achieve those objectives.
He also advises the U.S. State Department as a member of the Department’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law, and he is a Fellow of the U.K.-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an elected member of the American Law Institute.