Rebecca Hamilton Named Fulbright U.S. Scholar
American University Washington College of Law Professor one of 800 professors to receive award for the 2023-2024 academic year
Rebecca Hamilton, professor of law at American University Washington College of Law, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Scholarship Board. Professor Hamilton will research and teach at the Islands and Small States Institute at the University of Malta Law School during the 2023-2024 academic year.
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program allows professors to conduct research, teach, and expand their professional networks abroad. Professor Hamilton will be teaching International Law and working with the Climate Change graduate program at the University of Malta Law School, which brings in graduate students from island nations across the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean. “Young lawyers from small island developing states have been at the forefront of pushing international law and human rights conversations beyond the status quo,” said Hamilton. “I am thrilled that this Fulbright Award will give me the chance to be part of these conversations on the existential challenge of climate justice.”
“There is a reckoning coming in terms of how climate change will impact legal education in the 21st century,” Hamilton said. “All areas of law will have a climate dimension in the future. It’s incumbent upon us as scholars and educators to prepare our students.” Hamilton’s research, Digital Life and Climate Survival, delves into the emerging tensions between a technology sector that strives to diminish the salience of physical locale and frontline climate activists who emphasize the significance of place.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program and is supported by the people of the United States and partner countries around the world. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations around the world also provide direct and indirect support to the Program.
Notable Fulbright alumni include 62 Nobel Prize laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize recipients, 78 MacArthur Fellows, and 41 who have served as a head of state or government. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 400,000 participants from over 160 countries - chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential - with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to challenges facing our communities and our world.
~Story by Brice Helms.