Lee Epstein, Washington University in St. Louis Distinguished Professor, to Present 17th Annual Alfange Lecture at UMass Amherst

AMHERST, Mass. – Lee Epstein, the Ethan A.H. Shepley Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, will deliver the annual Dean Alfange, Jr. Lecture in American Constitutionalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Old Chapel on Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public.

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Epstein’s lecture, “The Constitution in the Contemporary Supreme Court,” will examine the often-contentious Senate confirmation process for U.S. Supreme Court justices, the partisan and ideological grounds that frequently divide justices – especially in highly salient constitutional cases – and what, if any, reforms should be implemented to tame politics in the Senate and on the Court.

Epstein’s research and teaching interests center on law and legal institutions, especially the behavior of judges. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Academy of Political and Social Science, in addition to her position at Washington University she is a visiting professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Bergen in Norway. She is a recipient of Northwestern University School of Law’s Outstanding First-Year Course Professor Award, and at Washington University she was named Professor of the Year by the Undergraduate Political Science Association and received a Faculty of the Year Award from the Student Union. She also received Washington University’s Alumni Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Award and the Arthur Holly Compton Faculty Achievement Award.

A recipient of 12 grants from the National Science Foundation, Epstein has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles and essays and 18 books, and she is frequently cited by major national news media. She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Teaching and Mentoring Award from the Law and Courts Section of the American Political Science Association for the Constitutional Law, and the Pritchett Award for the Best Book on Law and Courts and the Lasting Contribution Award for “The Choices Justice Make,” which she co-authored with Jack Knight.

The annual Dean Alfange, Jr. Lecture in American Constitutionalism was established in 2005 by UMass Amherst alumni to honor professor emeritus Dean Alfange, Jr., of the department of political science for his many noteworthy contributions during a distinguished 32-year academic career. The 2021 lecture will be the 17th lecture in a series that has featured prominent scholars, jurists and commentators focused on topics within the broad subject of constitutionalism and constitutional law in the United States.

More information on the Alfange Lecture can be found at the department of political science website, and more information on Epstein can be found at the WUSTL website.