Fulbright Grants Awarded to Three Lewis & Clark Law Professors
Faculty members Samir Parikh, Jim Oleske, and Ozan Varol received prestigious Fulbright grants to pursue international research this year.
The Fulbright Scholarship Program sponsors U.S. and foreign participants in study or teaching exchange programs around the world in order to increase mutual understanding between U.S. citizens and people across the globe. Awards are granted to recipients based on superior academic achievement, leadership experience, and the ability to act as an ambassador on behalf of their home country.
“We heartily congratulate our three professors on their recognition by the Fulbright program,” said Dean Jennifer Johnson. “It is a testament to their abilities as legal scholars and educators.”
Professor Parikh is the Kenneth H. Pierce Faculty Fellow and also serves as the director of Lewis & Clark College’s Bates Center for Entrepreneurship and Leadership. He received a Fulbright-Schuman Grant, which recognizes his innovative scholarship and will allow him to spend six months of his upcoming sabbatical at various institutions throughout Europe. Parikh will research the evolution of European Union insolvency policy and its effect on corporations and sovereign nations, as well as how austerity implementation has affected Spain and Italy.
Professor Oleske, the 2014 recipient of the law school’s Leo Levenson Award for Excellence in Teaching, focuses his study on the intersection of religious liberty and other constitutional values. He has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in the United Kingdom, where he will pursue research at Cardiff University’s Centre for Law and Religion. His Fulbright project will compare the laws governing religious exemptions in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Professor Varol is a comparative constitutional law scholar, whose interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersection of law and political science. He is also the author of the best-selling book The Democratic Coup d’État, published in 2017 by Oxford University Press. Varol was awarded a Fulbright grant to study authoritarian regimes in Europe. His research proposal included plans to study how a new generation of authoritarian regimes cloak repressive measures under the guise of law. However, for personal reasons, Varol had to decline his award.
email jasbury@lclark.edu
voice 503-768-6605
Advocate Magazine is published for alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Lewis & Clark Law School.
We welcome correspondence from readers. Please be sure to include your name and location. Submissions are subject to editing.
Judy Asbury, Assistant Dean, Communications and External Relations
Advocate Magazine
Lewis & Clark Law School
10101 S. Terwilliger Boulevard MSC 51
Portland OR 97219
More Stories

From the Dean
Speaking with students is one of my favorite parts of being dean. At Lewis & Clark Law School, I’ve discovered a rare and powerful combination: students who pair fierce dedication to their mission with deep collaboration and a genuine commitment to each other’s success.

A Decade of Dedication:
Professor Lydia Pallas Loren’s Work on the Landmark Restatement of Copyright.

Legal Expertise Supports Migratory Species
Professors Chris Wold and Erica Lyman facilitated a workshop with CMS Parties to discuss the legal contours of some of the treaty’s most important provisions.

Beyond the Bar
Most graduates of law school go on to practice law, working in law firms or providing legal counsel to organizations and businesses. Yet, for some, the lessons of law apply more broadly, and the outcome of their law school education has been a surprising and successful career outside of law. Here are just a few of our alums who followed an alternative route.
