King Hall Hosts 17 Visiting Scholars from Around the World
UC Davis School of Law is hosting 17 Visiting Scholars from China, Korea, Japan, and Switzerland during the Fall 2016 semester. The Visiting Scholars program operates year-round, and fall is the most popular time for scholars to arrive and begin their research.
Two of the current Chinese visitors are King Hall LL.M. alumni, and one scholar from Japan is an alumnus of the School of Law’s Orientation in USA Law program from many years ago. In addition, the scholar from Switzerland first came to the School of Law as a JD exchange student.
Associate Dean Beth Greenwood leads the Visiting Scholars program at the School of Law. “We are fortunate to welcome talented scholars each year, from around the world, who are leaders in their areas of law,” says Greenwood. “Their presence at King Hall allows for mutually enriching scholarly exchange with faculty and students, which supports the mission of the UC Davis School of Law.”
Maya Kaneyoshi is a Visiting Scholar and judge from Japan. “To achieve the highest standard of justice,” Judge Kaneyoshi says, “we have to see our cases from various viewpoints.” One way to accomplish this is through comparing the Japanese judicial system with another judicial system. As Judge Kaneyoshi explains, “Japan has a single judicial system, whereas the U.S. has two judicial systems, federal and state. This raises interesting questions that do not come up in Japan, such as what law to apply to a given case. I am enjoying studying these questions at King Hall.”
Visiting Scholar Zhiqiang Xin is a PhD candidate at Nankai University and studies Public Administration. He has come to UC Davis to undertake interdisciplinary research in the field of local governance and is auditing courses at the School of Law and also in the Political Science Department. Xin says, “The Chinese central government wants its local governments to be more accountable to the general public. Before I arrived in Davis, I wanted to take a broad look at this issue. But now that I am here, I have refined the focus of my dissertation to look specifically at levels of openness in local governments, especially with respect to meetings and public participation, and to think about ways that openness can be modernized in Chinese local governments.”
Three additional scholars will arrive in winter from South Korea. One is a Fulbright scholar, one a judge and one a prosecutor.
For questions about the Visiting Scholars program, please contact Charlie Lemcke, the Visiting Scholars program coordinator, at [email protected].
For more information about the International Law Programs, please visit law.ucdavis.edu/international or contact Kate Asche at [email protected] or 530-752-6081.