The University of Akron School of Law will hold its 87th Commencement Ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 16 at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall. The 2011 UA School of Law commencement speaker will be Dr. Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
“During my years of government service and since, I have had frequent contact with Dr. Gurry and know him to be a most capable steward of the world’s major IP treaties and a leader in promoting the relationship between IP and economic development,” says Professor Jeff Samuels, director of the Akron Law Intellectual Property Center.
Gurry was appointed director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Oct. 1, 2008, and Secretary-General of its sister organization, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), on Oct. 30, 2008.
Gurry began his WIPO career in 1985. He was instrumental in establishing the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in 1994 and subsequently in developing the highly successful Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy. He served on the WIPO senior management team from 1997, initially as Assistant Director General, then from 2003 as Deputy Director General.
Before joining WIPO, Gurry practiced as an attorney in Australia, and taught law at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds law degrees from the University of Melbourne and a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge, UK. He is an Honorary Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, an Honorary Professor of Peking University and holds honorary doctorates from a number of universities.
He is the author of numerous publications and articles on intellectual property issues in international journals. An Australian national, Gurry speaks fluent English and French.
About The University of Akron
The University of Akron is the public research university for Northern Ohio. The Princeton Review listed UA among the “Best in the Midwest” in its 2011 edition of Best Colleges: Region-by-Region. Approximately 29,300 students are enrolled in UA’s approximately 300 associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and law degree programs and 100 certificate programs at sites in Summit, Wayne, Medina and Holmes counties. For more information, visit www.uakron.edu.
About The University of Akron School of Law
The University of Akron School of Law promotes justice, the protection of individual liberty and the rule of law through commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. A regional school of national impact, the law school features renowned programs in intellectual property, professional responsibility and trial advocacy, and is home to one of four Constitutional Law Centers in the United States, established by the U.S. Congress in 1986.To learn more, visit www.uakron.edu/law.