Stephen R. Cook Receives 2010 Outstanding Professor of the Year Award

Akron, Ohio, May 17, 2010 – Professor Stephen R. Cook received the 2010 Outstanding Professor of the Year Award at The University of Akron School of Law 2010 commencement ceremony. Each year, members of the law school's graduating class nominate professors for the Outstanding Professor of the Year Award. The class then selects from among the top nominees and presents the award at the law school's commencement ceremony.

“Through the use of humor, insight, and genuine compassion, he motivated us all to be better students and better people. The fact that not every student in the class of 2010 actually had a class with this professor is a testament to how much he affected us as students, and even more so as future attorneys,” said 2009-10 Student Bar Association President Timothy Gallagher, who presented Cook with the award. “His passion for the law is equally matched by his passion for molding us from students into lawyers. This professor is a teacher first, whether his lessons are learned in the classroom, in the courtroom, or through a quick conversation in the hallway.”

Cook is a resident of Wooster and joined Akron Law in 2002 as a Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the New Business Legal Clinic, the Trial Litigation Clinic, Supervisor of the Mahoning County Misdemeanant Inmate Assistance Program and Director of Bar Preparation. He retired from teaching full time in spring 2010 and will return as an adjunct professor in fall 2010 teaching Contracts. He received his B.S. from The University of Maryland (1967), M.A. from Kent State University (1973) and J.D. from The University of Akron School of Law (1996). Cook teaches Seminar: New Business Legal Clinic and Seminar: Business Planning. He is admitted to practice in Ohio and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Cook’s professional memberships include the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, Akron Bar Association and the Ohio Bar College. Prior to joining the faculty at Akron Law, Cook was a magistrate for the Village of Smithville Mayor’s Court and in private practice with Cook & Schmitt, LLP and and attorney at Critchfield, Critchfield & Johnson, LTD.

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 2008 edition of Best Colleges: Region-by-Region. Serving 26,000 students, the University offers 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.