DETROIT (April 8, 2010) - Wayne State University Law School is pleased to announce that Wayne Law Assistant Professor and Cohn Family Endowed Scholar in Legal History Jocelyn Benson will speak in a lecture on her book, State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process, from 12:15 - 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, 2010, in the Law School's Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium. The event will address the intersection of state administrators and election law.

The Honorable Avern Cohn of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan established the Cohn Family Endowed Scholar program to support the research, teaching and scholarly activities for the holder of the two-year appointment. Professor Benson is the second Wayne Law professor to hold the title. Professor Gregory H. Fox was the inaugural recipient.

Judge Cohn, a longtime generous supporter of the Law School, was born in Detroit. He practiced law in the city from 1949 until his appointment to the bench. He has served the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan since his appointment by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

This event is free and open to the public. Parking is available in Structure #1 for $4.25 across from the Law School on West Palmer Street. Click here for directions. For more information, please contact Holly Hughes at (313) 577-3620 or at hhughes@wayne.edu.

Professor Jocelyn Benson
Professor Benson joined the Wayne Law faculty in 2005 and has served as the Cohn Family Scholar since 2008. She teaches courses in Election law, Education Law, Race and the Law, Sports and Inequality, and Civil Procedure. She has also published numerous articles on election administration and voting rights for English Learning voters.

Some of Professor Benson's past professional experiences include: serving as an adjunct faculty fellow at the University of California Berkeley Law School's Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity; serving as a law clerk to The Honorable Damon J. Keith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit; and serving as the National Field Director for Election Protection for the Democratic National Committee during the 2004 presidential election.

Professor Benson graduated from Wellesley College where she founded the now-annual Women American Political Activism conference and was the first student to be elected to serve in the governing body for the town of Wellesley, the Town Meeting. She earned her master's degree in sociology as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University in the United Kingdom, conducting research into the sociological implications of white supremacy and neo-Nazism. She received her J.D. from Harvard University Law School, where she was a general editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

Wayne State University is a premier urban research university offering more than 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 32,000 students.

For more information on Wayne State University Law School, visit law.wayne.edu.